Abstract
We present a mean-field analysis of the phase transitions of ferronematic in lyotropic liquid crystals. The model free energy is written in terms of the orientational order parameter, magnetization and micellar concentration. We find four different phases: (i) isotropic ferrofluid, (ii) isotropic micellar ferrofluid, (iii) lyotropic paranematic and (iv) lyotropic ferronematic. We put special emphasis on the phase transition from isotropic micellar ferrofluid to ferronematic phase. It was observed from the theoretical calculations that the transition from the isotropic micellar ferrofluid to lyotropic ferronematic phase is weakly first order. The temperature and concentration dependence of the magnetic birefringence and Cotton–Mouton constant are calculated.
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