Dresden 2014 – scientific programme
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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik
CPP 29: Colloids and Complex Liquids I
CPP 29.3: Talk
Wednesday, April 2, 2014, 10:00–10:15, ZEU 114
Self-assembly of colloids driven by disclinations in a nematic host fluid — •Marco G. Mazza1, Michael Melle2, Sergej Schlotthauer2, and Martin Schoen2,3 — 1MPI-DS, Göttingen, Germany — 2TU Berlin, Berlin, Germany — 3NCSU, Raleigh NC, USA
We present Monte Carlo simulations of a pair of colloidal particles immersed in a nematic host fluid. Through a calculation of the local director field we show that a pair of homogeneous colloids with locally planar anchoring surfaces attract each other if their center-of-mass distance vector forms an angle θ≃30∘ with the far-field director. We ascribe this attraction to a change in the complex three-dimensional defect structure building around the colloids and changing as the angle varies. This result settles a long-standing discrepancy between theory and experiment.