2017/02/09 by Anja Humpert, Humpert, Anja, Samuel F. Brown +3 · 1 citation
Chemistry · Materials Science · #Computational Physics (physics.comp-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Liquid Crystal Research Advancements #Material Dynamics and Properties #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) #Surfactants and Colloidal Systems
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1702.02851
openalex publication_date 2017/02/09 · openalex created_date 2022/08/23 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We investigate the defect structures forming around two nanoparticles in a Gay-Berne nematic liquid crystal using molecular simulations. For small separations, disclinations entangle both particles forming the figure of eight, the figure of omega and the figure of theta. These defect structures are similar in shape and occur with a comparable frequency to micron-sized particles studied in experiments. The simulations reveal fast transitions from one defect structure to another suggesting that particles of nanometre size cannot be bound together effectively. We identify the 'three-ring' structure observed in previous molecular simulations as a superposition of the different entangled and non-entangled states over time and conclude that it is not itself a stable defect structure.