Separation-insensitive attractive interaction between particles in a nematic liquid crystal

Abstract

We investigate with the aid of the Landau-de Gennescontinuum theory the interaction between two spherical particlesmediated by the elastic distortion of a nematic liquid crystal.We consider a case where the two particles are connected by a birefrigent string-like region that is called "a bubble-gum configuration." By numerical calculations we find that the interaction is attractive and its force is almost independent of the inter-particle distance,in strong contrast to any other elastic-distortion-mediated interaction in a nematic liquid crystal previously argued.These numerical observations are consistent with previous experiments.