1. Measurement of elastic forces between iron colloidal particles in a nematic liquid crystal.
- Author
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Noël CM, Bossis G, Chaze AM, Giulieri F, and Lacis S
- Subjects
- Colloids analysis, Computer Simulation, Elasticity, Electromagnetic Fields, Iron analysis, Liquid Crystals analysis, Nanostructures analysis, Particle Size, Stress, Mechanical, Colloids chemistry, Iron chemistry, Liquid Crystals chemistry, Models, Chemical, Models, Molecular, Nanostructures chemistry
- Abstract
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). - Published
- 2006
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