Manipulation of colloids by optical and electrical control of disclination lines in liquid crystals

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

We report two viable strategies to assemble and manipulate arrays of nano- and micro-particles by means of topological defects (TDs) in anisotropic fluids. Exploiting different boundary conditions, single TD, 1D arrays of TDs are tailored in liquid crystal twist cells. In a first approach, light-guided control of particles captured in disclination lines is demonstrated involving the use of a photosensitive chiral dopant within a nematic host. In the second one, an applied voltage enables a continuous displacement and deformation of the particles arrays. The reported results open up new possibilities for managing nano- and micro-metric objects over large distances.