Measurement of elastic forces between iron colloidal particles in a nematic liquid crystal

The forces that arise between two iron particles in a nematic liquid crystal with a strong homeotropic anchoring were studied. For the first time, the short range repulsive force resulting from the presence of a hedgehog defect between two particles was precisely determined thanks to application of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2006-06, Vol.96 (21), p.217801-217801, Article 217801
Main Authors: Noël, C M, Bossis, G, Chaze, A-M, Giulieri, F, Lacis, S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Colloids - analysis
Colloids - chemistry
Computer Simulation
Elasticity
Electromagnetic Fields
Iron - analysis
Iron - chemistry
Liquid Crystals - analysis
Liquid Crystals - chemistry
Models, Chemical
Models, Molecular
Nanostructures - analysis
Nanostructures - chemistry
Particle Size
Stress, Mechanical
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Summary:The forces that arise between two iron particles in a nematic liquid crystal with a strong homeotropic anchoring were studied. For the first time, the short range repulsive force resulting from the presence of a hedgehog defect between two particles was precisely determined thanks to application of a small magnetic field and observation of the equilibrium position resulting from the balance between the elastic and magnetic forces. Above a given threshold force, the particles stuck together whereas the hedgehog defect was expelled and transformed into a Saturn ring located between the particles. The attractive part of the interparticle force was determined with the same method on the entire range of separation distances; we found that the equilibrium distance between two particles was r = 1.19 +/- 0.05 ( was the average diameter of the pair of particles).
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/physrevlett.96.217801