Abstract
The interparticle force between two colloidal particles in a nematic liquidcrystal is directly measured as a function of the interparticle distanceR by two different experimental methods: the free-release method and the opticaltweezing method. The obtained force between an elastic ‘dipole’, which constitutes acolloidal particle and an accompanying hyperbolic hedgehog defect, confirmsprevious theoretical predictions that the force is attractive and proportional toR−4. We also observe that a repulsive component emerges at short distances to preclude directcontact of the particles. We find that the magnitudes of the forces obtained by the twomethods are different. The origin of this discrepancy is discussed by a comparison betweenthe static and the non-static measurements.
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