title: Orientational coupling amplification in ferroelectric nematic colloids.
abstract: We investigated the physical properties of low concentration ferroelectric nematic colloids, using calorimetry, optical methods, infrared spectroscopy, and capacitance studies. The resulting homogeneous colloids possess a significantly amplified nematic orientational coupling. We find that the nematic orientation coupling increases by approximately 10% for particle concentrations of 0.2%. A manifestation of the increased orientational order is that the clearing temperature of a nematic colloid increases by up to 40 degrees C compared to the pure liquid crystal host. A theoretical model is proposed in which the ferroelectric particles induce local dipoles whose effective interaction is proportional to the square of the orientational order parameter.
authors.affiliation: Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242, USA.
authors.forename: Fenghua
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Oleksandr
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Buchnev
authors.forename: Chae Il
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Cheon
authors.forename: Anatoliy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Glushchenko
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Reshetnyak
authors.forename: Yuri
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Reznikov
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Sluckin
authors.forename: John L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: West