Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 157801 (2005) [4 pages]Elasticity-Mediated Self-Organization and Colloidal Interactions of Solid Spheres with Tangential Anchoring in a Nematic Liquid CrystalReceived 9 June 2005; published 3 October 2005 Using laser tweezers, we study colloidal interactions of solid microspheres in the nematic bulk caused by elastic distortions around the particles with tangential surface anchoring. The interactions overcome the Brownian motion when the interparticle separation r⃗p is less than 3 particle diameters. The particles attract when the angle θ between r⃗p and the uniform far-field director n̂0 is between 0° and ≈70° and repel when 75°≲θ≤90°. The particles aggregate in chains directed at ≈30° to n̂0 and, at higher concentrations, form complex kinetically trapped structures. © 2005 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.157801
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.157801
PACS:
61.30.−v, 82.70.Dd, 82.70.Kj, 87.80.Cc
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