Eur. Phys. J. E (2006) 20: 215-219
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2006-10015-3

Regular Article

Anisotropic laser trapping in nematic colloidal dispersion

¹ Institute of Physics, 46 Nauky ave., 03039, Kyiv-39, Ukraine
² J. Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
³ Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, Jadranska 19, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

^* e-mail: igor.musevic@ijs.si

Received: 24 January 2006
Accepted: 26 May 2006
Published online: 16 June 2006

Abstract

The interaction between a colloidal particle and a focused laser beam in a nematic liquid crystal reveals an unusual anisotropic Coulomb-like character. Experiments demonstrate two opposite directions in which the particle is attracted to and repelled from the nematic region deformed by the light-induced director reorientation. In this work we present analytical analysis of such behavior and derive the energy of interaction between colloidal particle and deformed director field. The analytical solution is in good agreement with recent results obtained by computer simulation.