Elastic octopoles and colloidal structures in nematic liquid crystals

We propose a simple theoretical model which explains the formation of dipolar two- (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) colloidal structures in nematic liquid crystals. The colloidal particles are treated as effective hard spheres interacting via their elastic dipole, quadrupole, and octopole moments. It...

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Published inPhysical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics Vol. 89; no. 3; p. 032505
Main Authors Chernyshuk, S B, Tovkach, O M, Lev, B I
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.03.2014
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Summary:We propose a simple theoretical model which explains the formation of dipolar two- (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) colloidal structures in nematic liquid crystals. The colloidal particles are treated as effective hard spheres interacting via their elastic dipole, quadrupole, and octopole moments. It is shown that the octopole moment plays an important role in the formation of 2D and 3D nematic colloidal crystals. We generalize this assumption to the case of an external electric field and theoretically explain a giant electrostriction effect in 3D crystals observed recently.
ISSN:1550-2376
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevE.89.032505