Theory of elastic interaction of colloidal particles in nematic liquid crystals near one wall and in the nematic cell

• Published in: Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics Vol. 84; no. 1 Pt 1; p. 011707
• Main Authors: Chernyshuk, S B, Lev, B I
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 25.07.2011
• Subjects: Algorithms; Colloids - chemistry; Elasticity; Liquid Crystals - chemistry; Models, Statistical; Models, Theoretical; Physics - methods; Software; Static Electricity
• ISSN: 1550-2376
• DOI: 10.1103/physreve.84.011707

We apply the method developed [Chernyshuk and Lev, Phys. Rev. E 81, 041701 (2010)] for theoretical investigation of colloidal elastic interactions between axially symmetric particles in the confined nematic liquid crystal near one wall and in the nematic cell with thickness L. Both cases of homeotropic and planar director orientations are considered. Particularly, dipole-dipole, dipole-quadrupole, and quadrupole-quadrupole interactions of the one particle with the wall and within the nematic cell are found as well as corresponding two particle elastic interactions. A set of results has been predicted: The effective power of repulsion between two dipole particles at height h near the homeotropic wall is reduced gradually from inverse 3 to 5 with an increase of dimensionless distance r / h; near the planar wall, the effect of dipole-dipole isotropic attraction is predicted for large distances r > r(dd) = 4.76 h; maps of attraction and repulsion zones are crucially changed for all interactions near the planar wall and in the planar cell; and one dipole particle in the homeotropic nematic cell was found to be shifted by the distance δ(eq) from the center of the cell. The proposed theory fits very well with experimental data for the confinement effect of elastic interaction between spheres in the homeotropic cell [Vilfan et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 237801 (2008)] in the range 1-1000 kT. The influence of the K(24) and K(13) terms as well as connection with other theoretical approaches are discussed.