title: Direct and inverted nematic dispersions for soft matter photonics.
abstract: General properties and recent developments in the field of nematic colloids and emulsions are discussed. The origin and nature of pair colloidal interactions in the nematic colloids are explained and an overview of the stable colloidal 2D crystalline structures and superstructures discovered so far is given. The nature and role of topological defects in the nematic colloids is discussed, with an emphasis on recently discovered entangled colloidal structures. Applications of inverted nematic emulsions and binding force mechanisms in nematic colloids for soft matter photonic devices are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia. igor.musevic@ijs.si
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Muševič
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Skarabot
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Humar
mesh_terms: D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry*; D004655:Emulsions; D050866:Liquid Crystals; D008956:Models, Chemical; D055095:Optics and Photonics
chemical_list: D003102:Colloids; D004655:Emulsions