Casimir torques between anisotropic boundaries in nematic liquid crystals.

Fluctuation-induced interactions between anisotropic objects immersed in a nematic liquid crystal are shown to depend on the relative orientation of these objects. The resulting long-range "Casimir" torques are explicitly calculated for a simple geometry where elastic effects are absent. O...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Golestanian, R, Ajdari, A, Fournier, J
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2001
Description
Summary:Fluctuation-induced interactions between anisotropic objects immersed in a nematic liquid crystal are shown to depend on the relative orientation of these objects. The resulting long-range "Casimir" torques are explicitly calculated for a simple geometry where elastic effects are absent. Our study generalizes previous discussions restricted to the case of isotropic walls, and leads to new proposals for experimental tests of Casimir forces and torques in nematics.