Local field effects on reorientation in suspensions of anisotropic particles

The field-induced reorientation of microellipsoids in suspension depends on particle parameters, e.g., intrinsic dielectric anisotropy, shape, and size, as well as on the concentration of the particles. We study this process and the resulting orientational order parameter of the suspension in fields of arbitrary strength. The mean-field approach presented here provides an explicit link between the particle properties and their orientation distribution, taking into account the electrostatic interaction among the particles at moderate concentrations. It reproduces published experimental observations in the steady state and should be useful for studying reorientation phenomena as well as electro-optical properties in these systems.