title: Coexistence of two colloidal crystals at the nematic-liquid-crystal-air interface.
abstract: Glycerol droplets at a nematic-liquid-crystal-air interface form two different lattices--hexagonal and dense quasihexagonal--which are separated by the energy barrier and can coexist. Director distortions around each droplet form an elastic dipole. The first order transition between the two lattices is driven by a reduction of the dipole-dipole repulsion through reorientation of these dipoles. The elastic-capillary attraction is essential for the both lattices. The effect has a many-body origin.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physics, prospekt Nauky, 46, Kiev 03039, Ukraine.
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Nych
authors.forename: U M
authors.initials: UM
authors.lastname: Ognysta
authors.forename: V M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Pergamenshchik
authors.forename: B I
authors.initials: BI
authors.lastname: Lev
authors.forename: V G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Nazarenko
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Musevic
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Skarabot
authors.forename: O D
authors.initials: OD
authors.lastname: Lavrentovich