Effect of phase transitions on liquid crystal colloids: a short review

Abstract

We present a brief review on the effect of phase transitions on liquid crystal colloids. The paper focuses on the evolution of dipolar, quadrupolar and boojum colloids and the ensuing elastic distortions of the director field across phase transitions between various phases, including N, SmA, SmC and N*. The role of pre-transitional and post-transitional elasticity on the resulting defect structure is discussed. Our review includes the results of structural transitions of two-dimensional colloidal assemblies due to the transformation of the defects across the phase transitions. Finally, we discuss some future perspectives on further studies.