Nazarenko V. Self assembling of colloidal particles and molecules in a liquid crystal

The basic physical properties of complex heterogeneous liquid crystal system are considered in the manuscript. The consequence of energetically favorable nematic director distribution is developed for freely suspended liquid crystal films. It was demonstrated that small transparent particles suspended in a nematic liquid crystal can be trapped and manipulated using an intense laser beam, although their index of refraction is lower than the refractive indices of the surrounding birefringent fluid. Two mechanisms are identified that might be responsible for this anomalous trapping. Two different lattices made of glycerol droplet at the surface of liquid crystal - hexagonal and dense quasihexagonal - which are separated by the energy barrier are described. The director distortions around each droplet form the elastic dipole. The first order transition between the two lattices is driven by a reduction of the dipole-dipole repulsion through reorientation of these dipoles. The elastic-capillary attraction isessential for the both lattices. The effect has a many-body origin. Dichroic polarizing films on the base of lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals were developed and characterized. New concept of molecular dye aggregation in liquid crystal matrix and their interaction with high intensity laser light were developed.