Nematic order in suspensions of colloidal rods has been induced by a centrifugal field. The research was published in Soft Matter by Deshpremy Mukhija and Michael J. Solomon from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. These results could have implications for optical materials that require assemblies with high quality ordering in a three dimensions.
The team from University of Michigan say that comparison to previous theory and simulation of the isotropic–nematic transition of rod particles indicates that the field strengths required to generate nematic order were larger than would have been predicted under the assumption of local equilibrium in the sediments.
Read the full article for free here: Deshpremy Mukhija and Michael J. Solomon, Soft Matter, 2011, DOI:10.1039/C0SM00493F
