Oleg D. Lavrentovich

M. Kleman, O.D. Lavrentovich, Soft Matter Physics: An Introduction, pp. 638, Springer New York, (2003).

Current research interests focus on biological systems with orientational order, ferroelectric nematics, liquid crystal elastomers, topological defects, electro-optics and structural colors. 

See more at the group webpage: https://lavrentovichgroup.com/

Recent Publications

1. Taras Turiv, Runa Koizumi, Kristian Thijssen, Mikhail M. Genkin, Hao Yu, Chenhui Peng, Qi-Huo Wei, Julia M. Yeomans, Igor S. Aranson, Amin Doostmohammadi, Oleg D. Lavrentovich, Polar jets of swimming bacteria condensed by a patterned liquid crystal, Nature Physics 16, 481–487(2020), Highlighted in ScienceDaily “Jets of bacteria carry microscopic cargoes” On March 23, 2020

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200323125607.htm ;
https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/227551.php ;
http://7thspace.com/headlines/1143329/jets_of_bacteria_carry_microscopic_cargoes.

1. Taras Turiv, Jess Krieger, Greta Babakhanova, Hao Yu, Sergij V. Shiyanovskii^, Qi-Huo Wei, Min-Ho Kim, Oleg D. Lavrentovich, Topology control of human fibroblast cells monolayer by liquid crystal elastomer, Science Advances Vol. 6, no. 20, eaaz6485 (2020) Highlighted in https://phys.org/news/2020-05-topology-human-fibroblast-cells-monolayer.html
2. O.D. Lavrentovich, Ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal, a century in waiting, PNAS 117, 14629-14631 (2020)
3. Mojtaba Rajabi, Hend Baza, Taras Turiv, and Oleg D. Lavrentovich, Directional self-locomotion of active droplets enabled by nematic environment, Nature Physics 17, 260-266 (2021) Highlighted at

https://physicsworld.com/a/hyperbolic-hedgehog-steers-active-droplets-in-a-liquid-crystal/

1. O.D. Lavrentovich, Design of nematic liquid crystals to control microscale dynamics, Liquid Crystals Reviews 8, 59-129 (2020)
2. P. Kumari, B. Basnet, H. Wang, O.D. Lavrentovich, Ferroelectric nematic liquids with conics, Nature Communications 14, 748 (2023)
3. Runa Koizumi, Dmitry Golovaty, Ali Alqarni, Bing-Xiang Li, Peter J. Sternberg, and Oleg D. Lavrentovich, Topological transformations of a nematic drop, Science Advances 9, eadf3385 (2023)
4. O.D. Lavrentovich,  Splay-bend elastic inequalities shape tactoids, toroids, umbilics, and conic section walls in paraelectric, twist-bend, and ferroelectric nematics, Liquid Crystals Reviews 12, 1-13 (2024)
5. P. Kumari, B. Basnet, M.O. Lavrentovich, O.D. Lavrentovich, Chiral ground states of ferroelectric liquid crystals, Science383, 1364-1368 (2024)
6. A.A. Marchenko, O.L. Kapitanchuk, Ya. Yu. Lopatina, K.G. Nazarenko, A.I. Senenko, N.H. Katsonis, V.G. Nazarenko, and O.D. Lavrentovich, Polar self-organization of ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal molecules on atomically flat Au (111) surface, Phys Rev Lett 132,098101 (2024) Editors’ Suggestion.
7. Mojtaba Rajabi, Taras Turiv, Bing-Xiang Li, Hend Baza, Dmitry Golovaty, Oleg D. Lavrentovich, High-order nonlinear electrophoresis in a nematic liquid crystal, Phys Rev Lett 132, 158102 (2024) Editors’ Suggestion.
8. O. S. Iadlovska, K. Thapa, M. Rajabi, M. Mrukiewicz, S.V. Shiyanovskii, O.D. Lavrentovich, Electrically tunable total reflection of light by oblique helicoidal cholesteric, MRS Bulletin (Impact Article), 49, No.8, 835-850 (2024)
9. Alex Adaka, Mojtaba Rajabi, Nilanthi Haputhantrige, Samuel Sprunt, Oleg D. Lavrentovich, Antal Jákli, Dielectric properties of a ferroelectric nematic material: quantitative test of the polarization-capacitance Goldstone mode, Phys Rev Lett 133,038101 (2024)
10. Bijaya Basnet, Sathyanarayana Paladugu, Oleksandr Kurochkin, Oleksandr Buluy, Natalie Aryasova, Vassili Nazarenko, Sergij V. Shiyanovskii, and Oleg D. Lavrentovich, Periodic splay Fréedericksz transition in a ferroelectric nematic, Nature Communications 16, 1444 (2025)
11. Maxim Lavrentovich, Pruyanka Kumari, Oleg D. Lavrentovich, Twist, splay, and uniform domains in ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals, Nature Communications 16, 6516 (2025)
12. K. Thapa, S. Paladugu, O.D. Lavrentovich, Submicrosecond electric switching of large birefringence in the isotropic phase of ferroelectric nematics, Advanced Optical Materials 2025, e01338 (2025)
13. B. Basnet, P. Kumari, S. Paladugu, D. Pociecha, J. Karcz, P. Kula, N. Vaupotič, Ewa Górecka, and O.D. Lavrentovich, Helix alignment, chevrons, and edge dislocations in twist-bend ferroelectric nematics, Advanced Science, e15752 (2025)
14. O.D. Lavrentovich, Deformed equilibrium states in paraelectric and ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals, Annual Reviews of Condensed Matter Physics 17, 137-159 (2026)

Professional Record, Awards, Honors

• 2012, Doctor Honoris Causa, Institute for Condensed Matter Physics, National Academy of Ukraine
• 2010, Outstanding Referee, American Physical Society journals
• 2007, Distinguished Scholar Award, Kent State University
• 2005, Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Liquid Crystals
• 2004, International Society of Optical Engineering (SPIE) Fellow
• 2004-2008, Advisor of the Kent State University Materials Research Society Student Chapter
• 2003-present, e-LC (Electronic Liquid Crystals), Editorial Board Member
• 2003-2009, Physical Review E, Editorial Board Member
• 2003, Advisor Excellence Award for advising the Kent State University’s SPIE Student Chapter
• International Society for Optical Engineering, KSU 25th students honors and leadership awards ceremony, April 21, 2003
• 2002, NorTech Innovation Award for liquid crystal-based biodetection technology
• 2002-present, Advisor of the Kent State University SPIE Student Chapter http://dept.kent.edu/spie/
• 2001. Contributor to IUPAC Recommendations on Basic Terms in Low-Molar-Mass and Polymer Liquid Crystals, Pure and Applied Chemistry 73, 845-895 (2001).
• 1987, Gold medal of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences with an Award for a young researcher for the work "Defects of Dirac monopole type in liquid crystals"

PhD Thesis Advisor

• Vasyl V. Sergan (Electrooptics of dispersed liquid crystals, PhD in Physics and Mathematics, Academy of Sciences, Ukraine, 1989; now Assist. Professor, California State University, Sacramento, CA);
• Yurii A. Nastishin (Equilibrium topological defects in liquid crystals, PhD in Physics and Mathematics, Academy of Sciences, 1990; now Leading Scientist, Ukrainian Institute of Optics, Lviv, Ukraine);
• W. R. Folks (Light induced instabilities and defects in smectic liquid crystals, Physics, KSU, 1995; now Researcher at Univ. of Central Florida; School of Optics/CREOL);
• Vasyl G. Nazarenko (Surface polarization effects in liquid crystals, PhD in Physics and Mathematics, Academy of Sciences, 1998; now Leading Scientist at Institute of Physics, Kiev, Ukraine);
• Tomohiro Ishikawa (Elasticity of defects and structures in uniaxial liquid crystals, Chemical Physics Interdisciplinary Program, KSU, 2000; now Researcher at Motorola);
• Dmitry Voloschenko (Photoinduced aggregation in cholesteric liquid crystals, Chemical Physics Interdisciplinary Program, KSU, 2001; now Researcher at Motorola);
• Ivan Smalukh (Three-dimensional director fields studied by fluorescence confocal polarizing microscopy, Chemical Physics Interdisciplinary Program, KSU, April 1, 2003, now Postdoctoral Fellow at Univ. of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Illinois);
• Nadina Georgiou (Pattern formation in electrohydrodynamic convection of a nematic liquid crystal Physics, co-advisor with J. T. Gleeson, Physics, KSU, May 2003);
• Tod Schneider, Nanostructuring Chromonic Lyotropic Liquid Crystals, Chemical Physics, May 2005, now Researcher at Kent Displays, Inc.;
• Hui Liu, Optical Characterization of Lyotropic Chromonic Liquid Crystals, defended June 2, 2006
• Ye Yin, Dielectric relaxation and electrooptical effects in nematic liquid crystals, PhD in Chemical Physics, KSU, Spring 2007 (Researcher, Apple, Inc., CA)
• Mingxia Gu, Effects of dielectric relaxation on director dynamics in uniaxial nematic liquid crystals, PhD in Chemical Physics, KSU, 2009 (Researcher, Apple, Inc., CA)
• Oleg Pishnyak, New electro-optical applications of liquid crystals: From beam steering devices and tunable lenses to negative refraction and field-induced dynamics of colloids, PhD in Chemical Physics, KSU, 2009 (Researcher, Kent Displays, Inc.).
• Heung-Shik Park, Self-assembly of lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals: Effects of additives and applications, PhD in Chemical Physics, KSU, Fall 2010 (Principal Engineer, LCD Research Center Samsung Display Co., Ltd., South Korea).
• Bohdan Senyuk, Dielectric response of liquid crystals formed by bent-core and chiral molecules, PhD in Chemical Physics, KSU, Fall 2010 (Currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Colorado, Boulder).
• Hugh Wonderly, Master of Sciences, Fall 2010.

Current Graduate students

Bhargavi Gunturu, Vanessa Jiron, Priyanka Kumari, Ali Alqarni, Bijaya Basnet, Ashish Chandra Das