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Solids

Influence of the segregation effect on the magnetic and optical properties of a compensated ferronematic liquid crystal

A. N. Zakhlevnykh, D. A. Petrov

Perm State National Research University

Abstract: The Freedericksz transition in splay and bend geometry in a ferronematic (a suspension of single-domain magnetic particles in a nematic liquid crystal) is considered in the framework of the continuum theory. In zero magnetic field, the ferronematic was assumed to be compensated (i.e., having equal fractions of an impurity with magnetic moments directed parallel and antiparallel to the local director). Spatial distortions of the director and the concentration redistribution of the magnetic impurity in the ferronematic layer are studied as functions of the applied magnetic field and the segregation parameter. It is shown that the magnetic-field induced Freedericksz transition from the homogeneous to the inhomogeneous state has a threshold nature. The transition field as a function of the material parameters of the ferronematic is determined analytically. Magnetization of the ferronematic and its optical properties for a strong and weak segregation as functions of the magnetic field are studied.

Received: 19.12.2011

 English version: Technical Physics, 2012, 57:9, 1208–1218

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