Dispersions of ellipsoidal particles in a nematic liquid crystal

Colloidal particles dispersed in a partially ordered medium, such as a liquid crystal (LC) phase, disturb its alignment and are subject to elastic forces. These forces are long-ranged, anisotropic and tunable through temperature or external fields, making them a valuable asset to control colloidal a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inarXiv.org
Main Authors Tasinkevych, Mykola, Mondiot, Frederic, Mondain-Monval, Olivier, Jean-Christophe Loudet
Format Paper
LanguageEnglish
Published Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 04.12.2013
Subjects
Aspect ratio
Boundary conditions
Colloids
Dispersions
Elastic anisotropy
Ellipsoids
Liquid crystals
Mathematical morphology
Nematic crystals
Numerical analysis
Order parameters
Preferred orientation
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Summary:Colloidal particles dispersed in a partially ordered medium, such as a liquid crystal (LC) phase, disturb its alignment and are subject to elastic forces. These forces are long-ranged, anisotropic and tunable through temperature or external fields, making them a valuable asset to control colloidal assembly. The latter is very sensitive to the particle geometry since it alters the interactions between the colloids. We here present a detailed numerical analysis of the energetics of elongated objects, namely prolate ellipsoids, immersed in a nematic host. The results, complemented with qualitative experiments, reveal novel LC configurations with peculiar topological properties around the ellipsoids, depending on their aspect ratio and the boundary conditions imposed on the nematic order parameter. The latter also determine the preferred orientation of ellipsoids in the nematic field, because of elastic torques, as well as the morphology of particles aggregates.
ISSN:2331-8422