Optical manipulation of nematic colloids: wires, superstructures, and 2D crystals

Igor Muševič; Miha Škarabot; Miha Ravnik; Uroš Tkalec; Andriy Nych; Ulyana Ognysta; Vassili Nazarenko; Slobodan Žumer

doi:10.1117/12.796066

29 August 2008 Optical manipulation of nematic colloids: wires, superstructures, and 2D crystals

Igor Muševič, Miha Škarabot, Miha Ravnik, Uroš Tkalec, Andriy Nych, Ulyana Ognysta, Vassili Nazarenko, Slobodan Žumer

Proceedings Volume 7038, Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation V; 70381A (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.796066
Event: NanoScience + Engineering, 2008, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

We describe and analyze experiments, where optical manipulation of small colloidal particles in the nematic liquid crystal (NLC) was used to create artificial colloidal structures, such as 1D chains and 2D colloidal crystals, and superstructures of different types of colloids. In all cases, the colloidal particles are strongly bound to each other, with a typical pair interaction energy of several 1000 k_BT per 1μm size particle. There are two distinct mechanisms of colloidal binding in a spatially homogeneous NLC: (i) binding via spatially localized topological (point) defects, and (ii) binding via entangled topological defects, where the defect line winds around and wraps several colloidal particles.

Citation Download Citation

Igor Muševič, Miha Škarabot, Miha Ravnik, Uroš Tkalec, Andriy Nych, Ulyana Ognysta, Vassili Nazarenko, and Slobodan Žumer "Optical manipulation of nematic colloids: wires, superstructures, and 2D crystals", Proc. SPIE 7038, Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation V, 70381A (29 August 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.796066

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