Dresden 2017 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 40: Colloids and Complex Fluids II (Joint Session CPP/BP/DY)
BP 40.9: Talk
Wednesday, March 22, 2017, 12:45–13:00, ZEU 260
Ferromagnetic phases in colloidal suspensions — •Grigorii Zarubin1,2 and Markus Bier1,2 — 1Max Planck Institute Int. Sys. — 2University of Stuttgart, Germany
A ferromagnetic phase of anisotropic particles suspended in a nematic liquid crystal (NLC) was predicted as early as 1970 [1]. A recent experimental realization [2] confirmed that a dilute suspension of magnetic platelets in NLC forms ferromagnetic phase which is susceptible to weak magnetic fields. In this work we describe such a suspension of plate-like particles using density functional theory. The influence of the NLC is taken into account implicitly through the introduction of the effective elastic interaction between platelets. Following approach of Lev and Tomchuk [3], the effective potential was derived under the assumption of weak anchoring of the NLC at the surface of the platelets. An ordered phase was identified with help of the orientational distribution function, and the dependence of the ferromagnetic phase on the strength of the magnetic and the elastic coupling was studied.
References: [1] F. Brochard and P.G. de Gennes, J. Physique 31, 691 (1970). [2] A. Mertelj, D. Lisjak, M. Drofenik and M. Copic, Nature 504, 237 (2013). [3] B.I. Lev and P.M. Tomchuk, Phys. Rev. E 59, 1 (1998).