Impact of Nanoparticles on Nematic Ordering in Square Wells

Abstract EN

Nematic liquid crystalline structures within square wells are studied numerically using both Lebwohl-Lasher lattice semimicroscopic and the Landau-de Gennes mesoscopic approach.

At lateral boundary wall strong planar anchoring is enforced.

The cell thickness h along the z Cartesian coordinate is assumed to be smaller than the characteristic square well size R.

Using semimicroscopic modelling we restrict to effectively two-dimensional systems which we study in terms of the tensor nematic order parameter.

We consider impact of appropriate nanoparticles (NPs) on nematic configuration for cases where R becomes comparable to the biaxial order parameter correlation length.

In this case a star-like order reconstruction biaxial profile could be formed in absence of NPs.

We demonstrate existence of a rich variety of different nematic structures, including topological defects, which are enabled by presence of appropriate NPs.