Application of an electric field to colloidal particles suspended in a liquid-crystal solvent - art. no. 165503

We study the behavior of colloidal particles suspended in a thermotropic ne matic solvent in the presence of an electric field. For normal boundary con ditions of the nematic director at the particles' surface, we show experime ntally that an electric field applied along the dipolar axis of an elastic dipole induces a transition to an elastic quadrupolar configuration. Turnin g the field off makes the system go back to the initial state. We also show that it is possible to directly evidence an elastic quadrupolar repulsion between droplets.