Three-dimensional crystals of adaptive knots

Abstract

Knot all that it seems Although for some, knots are merely a frustration caused by poorly tied shoelaces, interest in knots in physical systems spans many disciplines, including fluid and optical vortices, Skyrmion states, liquid crystals, excitable media, polymers, proteins, DNA, and even chemical molecules. Tai and Smalyukh describe the creation of localized knotted structures in cholesteric liquid crystals using electric fields (see the Perspective by Alexander). The knots are topologically distinct from the host medium and diffuse and organize like colloidal particles, forming regular crystalline arrangements. Science , this issue p. 1449 ; see also p. 1377