title: Optically driven translational and rotational motions of microrod particles in a nematic liquid crystal.
abstract: A small amount of azo-dendrimer molecules dissolved in a liquid crystal enables translational and rotational motions of microrods in a liquid crystal matrix under unpolarized UV light irradiation. This motion is initiated by a light-induced trans-to-cis conformational change of the dendrimer adsorbed at the rod surface and the associated director reorientation. The bending direction of the cis conformers is not random but is selectively chosen due to the curved local director field in the vicinity of the dendrimer-coated surface. Different types of director distortions occur around the rods, depending on their orientations with respect to the nematic director field. This leads to different types of motions driven by the torques exerted on the particles by the director reorientations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nonlinear Phenomena, Institute for Experimental Physics, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg 39016, Germany; alexey.eremin@ovgu.de takezoe.h.aa@m.titech.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Alexey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Eremin
authors.affiliation: Department of Nonlinear Phenomena, Institute for Experimental Physics, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg 39016, Germany; Departments of Physics and Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology, Rayong 21210, Thailand; and.
authors.forename: Pemika
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hirankittiwong
authors.affiliation: Department of Nonlinear Phenomena, Institute for Experimental Physics, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg 39016, Germany; Departments of Physics and Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology, Rayong 21210, Thailand; and.
authors.forename: Nattaporn
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chattham
authors.affiliation: Department of Nonlinear Phenomena, Institute for Experimental Physics, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg 39016, Germany;
authors.forename: Hajnalka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nádasi
authors.affiliation: Department of Nonlinear Phenomena, Institute for Experimental Physics, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg 39016, Germany;
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stannarius
authors.affiliation: Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology, Rayong 21210, Thailand; and Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand;
authors.forename: Jumras
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Limtrakul
authors.affiliation: Organic Device Engineering, Yamagata University, Yonezawa 992-8510, Japan.
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Haba
authors.affiliation: Organic Device Engineering, Yamagata University, Yonezawa 992-8510, Japan.
authors.forename: Koichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yonetake
authors.affiliation: Department of Nonlinear Phenomena, Institute for Experimental Physics, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg 39016, Germany; alexey.eremin@ovgu.de takezoe.h.aa@m.titech.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Hideo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takezoe
keywords: colloidal inclusions; elasticity; liquid crystals; photoisomerization; topological defects