Theory of microphase separation in bidisperse chiral membranes

TL;DR

This paper develops a Ginzburg-Landau theoretical framework to understand microphase separation in bidisperse chiral membranes, revealing a transition from complete phase separation to finite-sized domains driven by a balance of interface and twist energies.

Contribution

It introduces a novel theoretical model for microphase separation in chiral membranes, combining stability analysis and numerical simulations to explain domain size regulation.

Findings

Identifies a phase transition from complete to microphase separation.

Shows the domain size is determined by a balance of interface and twist energies.

Demonstrates a discontinuous change in domain size during the transition.

Abstract

We present a Ginzburg-Landau theory of micro phase separation in a bidisperse chiral membrane consisting of rods of opposite handendness. This model system undergoes a phase transition from an equilibrium state where the two components are completely phase separated to a microphase separated state composed of domains of a finite size comparable to the twist penetration depth. Characterizing the phenomenology using linear stability analysis and numerical studies, we trace the origin of the discontinuous change in domain size that occurs during this to a competition between the cost of creating an interface and the gain in twist energy for small domains in which the twist penetrates deep into the center of the domain.