Ordered droplet structures at the liquid crystal surface and elastic-capillary colloidal interactions

We demonstrate a variety of ordered patterns, including hexagonal structures and chains, formed by colloidal particles (droplets) at the free surface of a nematic liquid crystal (LC). The surface placement introduces a new type of particle interaction as compared to particles entirely in the LC bulk. Namely, director deformations caused by the particle lead to distortions of the interface and thus to capillary attraction. The elastic-capillary coupling is strong enough to remain relevant even at the micron scale when its buoyancy-capillary counterpart becomes irrelevant.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Physical Review Letter

Melting of 2D liquid crystal colloidal structure

Using video microscopy, we investigated melting of a two-dimensional colloidal system, formed by glycerol droplets at the free surface of a nematic liquid crystalline layer. Analyzing different structure correlation functions, we conclude that melting occurs through an intermediate hexatic phase, as predicted by the Kosterlitz-Thouless-Halperin-Nelson-Young(KTHNY) theory. However, the temperature range of the intermediate phase is rather narrow, <1°C, and the characteristic critical power law decays of the correlation functions are not fully developed. We conclude that the melting of our 2D systems qualitatively occurs according to KTHNY, although quantitative details of the transition scenario may partly depend on the details of interparticle interaction

Melting of 2D liquid crystal colloidal structure

Using video microscopy, we investigated melting of a two-dimensional colloidal system, formed by glycerol droplets at the free surface of a nematic liquid crystalline layer. Analyzing different structure correlation functions, we conclude that melting occurs through an intermediate hexatic phase, as predicted by the Kosterlitz-Thouless-Halperin-Nelson-Young(KTHNY) theory. However, the temperature range of the intermediate phase is rather narrow, <1°C, and the characteristic critical power law decays of the correlation functions are not fully developed. We conclude that the melting of our 2D systems qualitatively occurs according to KTHNY, although quantitative details of the transition scenario may partly depend on the details of interparticle interaction

Selective light-induced desorption: The mechanism of photoalignment of liquid crystals at adsorbing solid surfaces

We demonstrate experimentally that bare solid surfaces with adsorbed organic molecules can orient liquid crystals after UV light irradiation. The detailed structure and behavior of the surface-adsorbed molecules are not important to the effect: just their UV light absorption should depend on their orientation. The only requirement to the solid substrates is their transparency to the UV light. The universal reason for the photoinduced anisotropy in such systems is that photons clean from the surface those molecules that absorb them most intensively. This is a kind of light rubbing resulting in the anisotropic ablation of the adsorbed material

Anisotropic laser trapping in nematic colloidal dispersion

The interaction between a colloidal particle and a focused laser beam in a nematic liquid crystal reveals an unusual anisotropic Coulomb-like character. Experiments demonstrate two opposite directions in which the particle is attracted to and repelled from the nematic region deformed by the light-induced director reorientation. In this work we present analytical analysis of such behavior and derive the energy of interaction between colloidal particle and deformed director field. The analytical solution is in good agreement with recent results obtained by computer simulation

Alignment Memory of a Nematic Liquid Crystal and Thermal Isotropization of the Surface Adsorbed Layer

We use a digital image analysis of the schlieren textures to study the effect of memory of the surface anisotropy in a nematic-liquid-crystal cell and establish its relation to the surface adsorbed molecular layer. The anisotropy is induced on an isotropic glass surface by a flow of the nematic liquid. The proposed technique allows us to quantify the alignment and its changes under the effect of temperature. The temperature at which the memory of the alignment texture is lost is interpreted as the temperature of the full isotropization of the initial anisotropic surface layer adsorbed during the flow: the molecules oriented along the flow are thermally desorbed whereas newly adsorbed bulk molecules have isotropic distribution. The measured temperature dependence of the director alignment texture is used to estimate the adsorption energy of the liquid-crystal molecule onto the surface.</p

Coexistence of Two Colloidal Crystals at the Nematic-Liquid-Crystal-Air Interface

Glycerol droplets at a nematic-liquid-crystal -air interface form two different lattices -hexagonal and dense quasihexagonal-which are separated by the energy barrier and can coexist. Director distortions around each droplet form an elastic dipole. The first order transition between the two lattices is driven by a reduction of the dipole-dipole repulsion through reorientation of these dipoles. The elastic-capillary attraction is essential for the both lattices. The effect has a many-body origin. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.057801 PACS numbers: 61.30.ÿv, 68.03.Cd, 82.70.Dd, 89.75.Fb Introduction.-Colloidal structures are of a continuing interest for studying general ordering phenomena in condensed matter physics The nematic colloids also demonstrate many-body ordered structures, namely, 2D ordering of hard sphere