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Updated: Dec 12, 2025

Measuring Magnetically-Tuned Ferroelectric Polarization in Liquid Crystals
Published on: August 15, 2018
Inverse "guest-host" effect: ferroelectric nanoparticles mediated switching of nematic liquid crystals
Y Garbovskiy1, A V Emelyanenko, A Glushchenko
1Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT 06050, USA. ygarbovskiy@ccsu.edu.
Abstract:
Liquid crystals are widely used as a host matrix to embed different materials: dyes, fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, various nanoparticles (metallic, semiconductor, ferromagnetic, ferroelectric). The usual approach is related to the so called "guest-host" effect: external electric (or magnetic) fields drive liquid crystals (host), and liquid crystals reorient embedded particles (guest). In this paper we report an experimental observation of the effect that is completely opposite to the classical "guest-host" phenomenon: ferroelectric nanoparticles being switched by an external field mediate the switching of liquid crystals. Our experiments show that ferroelectric nanoparticles reorient and hold liquid crystal molecules in a direction of the ferroelectric nanoparticles orientation even when an external electric field attempts to orient a liquid crystal in an orthogonal direction.
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