Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 26 November 2004:
Vol. 306. no. 5701, p. 1525
DOI: 10.1126/science.1102864
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Brevia

Stokes Drag on a Sphere in a Nematic Liquid Crystal

J. C. Loudet,* P. Hanusse, P. Poulin

The Stokes-Einstein relation relates the diffusion coefficient of a spherical Brownian particle in a viscous fluid to its friction coefficient. For a particle suspended in anisotropic liquid, theory predicts that the drag coefficient should also be anisotropic. Using video microscopy coupled with particle tracking routines, the Brownian fluctuations of micrometer-sized particles were analyzed to yield a quantitative measurement of the diffusion coefficients parallel and perpendicular to the nematic director. The experimental values agree quite well with recent numerical calculations that take into account the distortions of the director field in the vicinity of the particles.

Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal, CNRS, Avenue A. Schweitzer 33600, Pessac, France.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: loudet{at}crpp-bordeaux.cnrs.fr

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Laser trapping in anisotropic fluids and polarization-controlled particle dynamics.
I. I. Smalyukh, A. V. Kachynski, A. N. Kuzmin, and P. N. Prasad (2006)
PNAS 103, 18048-18053
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)