Magnetic actuation of a thermodynamically stable colloid of ferromagnetic nanoparticles in a liquid crystal.

We report the development of a highly stable nanomaterial based on ferromagnetic nanoparticles dispersed in a thermotropic liquid crystal. The long-term colloidal stability and homogeneity were achieved through surface modification of the nanoparticles with a mixture of a dendritic oligomesogenic surfactant and hexylphosphonic acid and confirmed by optical and electron microscopy. The nanomaterial has an increased sensitivity to the magnetic field possessing collective and non-collective magneto-optical responses in contrast to the undoped LC.

Aging in glassy polymer-liquid-crystal layers.

We present in this Rapid Communication experimental evidence of an acceleration of the zenithal easy-axis dynamics of a nematic liquid crystal (NLC) with the age of a NLC-polymer layer. The comparison with other hard alignment layers strongly indicates that the polymer softness and its ability to reorient in the nematic ordering field is at the origin of the measured dynamics. The unusual acceleration of the dynamics with the polymer age is discussed in terms of this unique coupling with the NLC order.