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arXiv · 2204.11195

Nontrivial electrophoresis of silica micro and nanorods in a nematic liquid crystal

Muhammed Rasi M·Archana S·Ravi Kumar Pujala·Surajit Dhara
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Abstract

We study DC and AC electrophoresis of silica micro and nanorods in a thin film of a nematic liquid crystal. These particles induce virtual topological defects and also demonstrate nontrivial electrophoresis in a nematic liquid crystal. We measure several nonlinear electrophoretic mobility coefficients and compare with those calculated theoretically. We demonstrate a competing effect of the elastic and electrostatic torques that arises due to tilting of the rods with respect to the liquid crystal director. A basic theory describing this effect allows us to measure the effective polarizability of the rods. Our approach is simple and applicable to a wide variety of asymmetric and polarizable particles.

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Muhammed Rasi M, Archana S, Ravi Kumar Pujala, Surajit Dhara. 2022-04-24. Nontrivial electrophoresis of silica micro and nanorods in a nematic liquid crystal. https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.11195

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