Pushing, pulling and twisting liquid crystal systems: exploring new directions with laser manipulation

Uni- and Bidirectional Rotation and Speed Control in Chiral Photonic Micromotors Powered by Light

Liquid crystalline polymers are attractive materials for untethered miniature soft robots. When they contain azo dyes, they acquire light-responsive actuation properties. However, the manipulation of such photoresponsive polymers at the micrometer scale remains largely unexplored. Here, uni- and bidirectional rotation and speed control of polymerized azo-containing chiral liquid crystalline photonic microparticles powered by light is reported. The rotation of these polymer particles is first studied in an optical trap experimentally and theoretically. The micro-sized polymer particles respond to the handedness of a circularly polarized trapping laser due to their chirality and exhibit uni- and bidirectional rotation depending on their alignment within the optical tweezers. The attained optical torque causes the particles to spin with a rotation rate of several hertz. The angular speed can be controlled by small structural changes, induced by ultraviolet (UV) light absorption. After switching off the UV illumination, the particle recovers its rotation speed. The results provide evidence of uni- and bidirectional motion and speed control in light-responsive polymer particles and offer a new way to devise light-controlled rotary microengines at the micrometer scale.

Electrically Powered Locomotion of Dual-Nature Colloid-Hedgehog and Colloid-Umbilic Topological and Elastic Dipoles in Liquid Crystals

Colloidal particles in liquid crystals tend to induce topological defects and distortions of the molecular alignment within the surrounding anisotropic host medium, which results in elasticity-mediated interactions not accessible to their counterparts within isotropic fluid hosts. Such particle-induced coronae of perturbed nematic order are highly responsive to external electric fields, even when the uniformly aligned host medium away from particles exhibits no response to fields below the realignment threshold. Here we harness the nonreciprocal nature of these facile electric responses to demonstrate colloidal locomotion. Oscillations of the electric field prompt repetitive deformations of the corona of dipolar elastic distortions around the colloidal inclusions, which upon appropriately designed electric driving synchronize the displacement directions. We observe the colloid-hedgehog dipole accompanied by an umbilical defect in the tilt directionality field (c-field), along with the texture of elastic distortions that evolves with a change in the applied voltage. The temporal out-of-equilibrium evolution of the director and c-field distortions around particles when the voltage is turned on and off is not invariant upon reversal of time, prompting lateral translations and interactions that markedly differ from those accessible to these colloids under equilibrium conditions. Our findings may lead to both technological and fundamental science applications of nematic colloids as both model reconfigurable colloidal systems and as mesostructured materials with predesigned temporal evolution of structure and composition.

Polarization-dependent non-uniform rotation rates of rhombohedral calcite

We demonstrate the polarization-dependent torque on rhombohedral calcite in an optical trap. Our precipitate technique produces regular crystals approximately 10μm on all edges. The regularity of the crystal shape makes it possible to visually identify the optical axis as well as the orientation of the polarization axes. When a rhombohedral crystal is trapped in an elliptically polarized beam, it orients itself with its optic axis approximately parallel to the beam axis. While in this orientation, the total torque increases and decreases relative to three extraordinary and ordinary axes of the crystal. We measure this axis-dependent calcite rotation through video analysis and model the dependence of the torque on the crystal orientation. The ability to predict the motion of calcite gives an analytical tool for applications such as fluid stirring or "lab on a chip" systems.

Determining elliptical polarization of light from rotation of calcite crystals

This paper demonstrates the non-uniform circular rotation of calcite crystals in an elliptically polarized laser mode. Birefringent calcite crystals respond in predictable ways to polarization. A laser mode with high ellipticity (approaching circular polarization) causes a calcite crystal to rotate at a higher rate than that with a low ellipticity (approaching linear polarization). The polarization orientation of the laser mode also directly affects the instantaneous crystal rotation. We place calcite crystals in a trapping region, and observe their behavior under different polarization modes. Measurements of rotation rates, orientation, and motion of calcite crystals are made by synchronizing information from video images and a quadrant photodiode. These measurements are then compared with predicted values.

Advances in the microrheology of complex fluids

New developments in the microrheology of complex fluids are considered. Firstly the requirements for a simple modern particle tracking microrheology experiment are introduced, the error analysis methods associated with it and the mathematical techniques required to calculate the linear viscoelasticity. Progress in microrheology instrumentation is then described with respect to detectors, light sources, colloidal probes, magnetic tweezers, optical tweezers, diffusing wave spectroscopy, optical coherence tomography, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, elastic- and quasi-elastic scattering techniques, 3D tracking, single molecule methods, modern microscopy methods and microfluidics. New theoretical techniques are also reviewed such as Bayesian analysis, oversampling, inversion techniques, alternative statistical tools for tracks (angular correlations, first passage probabilities, the kurtosis, motor protein step segmentation etc), issues in micro/macro rheological agreement and two particle methodologies. Applications where microrheology has begun to make some impact are also considered including semi-flexible polymers, gels, microorganism biofilms, intracellular methods, high frequency viscoelasticity, comb polymers, active motile fluids, blood clots, colloids, granular materials, polymers, liquid crystals and foods. Two large emergent areas of microrheology, non-linear microrheology and surface microrheology are also discussed.

Rotational and translational diffusion of anisotropic gold nanoparticles in liquid crystals controlled by varying surface anchoring

We study translational and rotational diffusion of anisotropic gold nanoparticles (NPs) dispersed in the bulk of a nematic liquid crystal fluid host. Experimental data reveal strong anisotropy of translational diffusion with respect to the uniform far-field director, which is dependent on shape and surface functionalization of colloids as well as on their ground-state alignment. For example, elongated NPs aligned parallel to the far-field director translationally diffuse more rapidly along the director whereas diffusion of NPs oriented normal to the director is faster in the direction perpendicular to it while they are also undergoing elasticity-constrained rotational diffusion. To understand physical origins of these rich diffusion properties of anisotropic nanocolloids in uniaxially anisotropic nematic fluid media, we compare them to diffusion of prolate and oblate ellipsoidal particles in isotropic fluids as well as to diffusion of shape-isotropic particles in nematic fluids. We also show that surface functionalization of NPs with photosensitive azobenzene groups allows for in situ control of their diffusivity through trans-cis isomerization that changes surface anchoring.

A simple model for the rotation of a trapped chiral nematic droplet under the action of a linearly polarized laser beam

There have been recent reports of continuous rotation of chiral nematic droplets in restricted ranges of diameter/pitch (d /p) values, trapped by a linearly polarized laser beam. We have developed a simple model to calculate the distortion in the helical structure of a set of flat layers, caused by the action of the strong electric field of the propagating laser beam on the dielectric anisotropy of the medium. The resulting change in the polarization state of the beam passing through the sample is then used to calculate the torque on the sample as a function of the azimuthal angle of the first layer. The main results are: i) the torque tends to zero even with circularly polarized beam for samples with thicknesses around integral multiples of 0.5p ; ii) the undistorted sample takes an equilibrium orientation for linearly polarized beam, which jumps by π/2 rad at the same sample thicknesses; iii) these samples will have a nonzero torque at all azimuthal angles of the first slice when the helical structure is distorted by the linearly polarized beam. The calculations show that a propagating accordion mode, in which the helical pitch alternately expands and contracts, gives rise to the nonzero torque. The theoretical predictions are in broad agreement with experimental results.