Director anchoring on a simple edge dislocation at the surface of induced smectic-C_{A} films.

We present a detailed analysis of c-director anchoring measurements on simple edge dislocations at the surface of smectic-C_{A} films (steps). Indications show that the c-director anchoring on the dislocations originates from a local and partial melting of the dislocation core that depends on the anchoring angle. The SmC_{A} films are induced on isotropic puddles of 1-(methyl)-heptyl-terephthalylidene-bis-amino cinnamate molecules by the surface field, while the dislocations are located at the isotropic-smectic interface.

Interactions of carbon nanotubes in a nematic liquid crystal. II. Experiment.

Multiwall carbon nanotube (CNT) colloids with different anchoring conditions are dispersed in pentyl-cyanobiphenyl (5CB), a thermotropic liquid crystal (LC) that exhibits a room-temperature nematic phase. The experiments make use of CNTs treated for strong planar, homeotropic, or Janus anchorings. Observations with a polarizing microscope show that the CNTs placed in a uniform nematic field stabilize parallel or perpendicular to n depending on their anchoring conditions.

Interactions of carbon nanotubes in a nematic liquid crystal. I. Theory.

Elongated and rodlike objects such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are studied when immersed in a nematic liquid crystal. Their interaction energy in a uniform nematic field depends on their orientation relative to the director n, and its minimum determines if they stabilize parallel or perpendicular to n. Using free energy calculations, we deduce the orientation at equilibrium that they choose in a uniform director field n or when they are in contact with a splay-bend disclination line.

Elongation of discotic liquid crystal strands and lubricant effects.

After a short review on the physics of pulled threads and their mechanical properties, the paper reports and discusses the strand elongation of disordered columnar phases, hexagonal or lamella-columnar, of small molecules or polymers. The mechanical properties appear to be relevant to the length of the columns of molecules compared to the thread length, instead of the usual correlation length. If, taking the entanglement effect into account, the column length is short, the strand exhibits rather fluid-like properties that may even look nematic-like at the macroscopic scale.

Micro-wires self-assembled and 3D-connected with the help of a nematic liquid crystal.

We discuss a method for producing automatic 3D connections at right places between substrates in front of one another. The idea is based on the materialization of disclination lines working as templates. The lines are first created in the nematic liquid crystal (5CB) at the very place where microwires have to be synthesized.

Self-connected 3D architecture of microwires.

A defect or disclination line, prepared at a designed place in a nematic liquid crystal, is used as a template for realizing a microwire directly connected to the electrodes with an accuracy of a few microm. The line attracts and traps silica particles, until self-assembling a complete micronecklace. We then fix the colloids in the necklace by means of pyrrole electropolymerization.

Colloid particles in the interaction field of a disclination line in a nematic phase.

On the basis of linear hydrodynamics, we analyze the trajectory of particle-hedgehog systems, attracted by a -1/2 disclination (defect line) in a nematic liquid crystal. We show that, as with the interactions between like-particles, the interaction between a particle and a disclination has an electrostatic analogue, the splay replacing the electric field, except for the symmetry properties. The disclination thus attracts the beads along nonradial tracks and in a self-assembling process, or template mechanism, may build a microscopic necklace with them.

Linear splay elasticity in surface-induced films of tilted smectic liquid crystals.

The prefrozen films that may be observed at the surface of isotropic liquid crystal droplets, close to the isotropic-smectic phase transition, or surface-induced films, are essentially asymmetric. If moreover, the molecules are tilted inside the smectic layers, as in the smectic-C (SmC) or smectic-C(A) (SmC(A)) phases, the c director that we may define as the order parameter of the film, is a real vector. Thus, the surface-induced films of MHTAC exhibit vectorial or polar properties, though the molecules are not chiral.

Local measurement of the zenithal anchoring strength.

We present an electro-optic method for measuring the zenithal anchoring strength of nematic liquid crystals, based on the determination of the distortion produced by a small electric field. This method yields the zenithal anchoring strength at small applied torques, and remarkably, only needs local measurements (optical path difference versus applied voltage, sample thickness), in contrast to the classical methods that use measurements integrated over the entire sample. We determine the zenithal anchoring strength for two nematic liquid crystals (5 CB and 5 OCB) with positive dielectric anisotropy, onto poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) treated surfaces, that yield planar liquid crystal cells.