Ordered Droplet Structures at the Liquid Crystal Surface and Elastic-Capillary Colloidal Interactions

作     者：I. I. Smalyukh S. Chernyshuk B. I. Lev A. B. Nych U. Ognysta V. G. Nazarenko O. D. Lavrentovich 

作者机构：Liquid Crystal Institute and Chemical Physics Interdisciplinary Program Kent State University Kent Ohio 44242 USA Institute of Physics Prospect Nauki 46 Kyiv-39 03039 Ukraine Japan Science and Technology Corporation Yokoyama Nano-structured Liquid Crystal Project 5-9-9 Tokodai Ibaraki 300-2635 Japan 

出 版 物：《Physical Review Letters》 (Phys Rev Lett)

年 卷 期：2004年第93卷第11期

页      面：117801-117801页

核心收录：

学科分类：07[理学] 0702[理学-物理学] 

基　　金：National Science Foundation  NSF  (DMR-0315523  2025  0315523) 

主　　题：Liquid crystals 

摘      要：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 particles 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.