Effective Landau theory of ferronematics.

Abstract

An effective Landau-like description of ferronematics, i.e., suspensions of magnetic colloidal particles in a nematic liquid crystal (NLC), is developed in terms of the corresponding magnetization and nematic director fields. The study is based on a microscopic model and on classical density functional theory. Ferronematics are susceptible to weak magnetic fields and they can exhibit a ferromagnetic phase, which has been predicted several decades ago and has recently been found experimentally. Within the proposed effective Landau theory of ferronematics, one has quantitative access, e.g., to the coupling between the magnetization of the magnetic colloids and the nematic director of the NLC. On mesoscopic length scales, this generates complex response patterns.