THEORY OF DIELECTRIC SUSCEPTIBILITY OF NEMATIC NANOCOMPOSITES DOPED WITH SPHERICAL NANOPARTICLES

Abstract

A theory of dielectric susceptibility of a nematic liquid crystal doped with isotropic nanoparticles has been developed using a simple model of a spherical nanoparticle embedded into an anisotropic dielectric medium. A simple expression is obtained for the effective polarizability of a nanoparticle in the nematic dielectric matrix. This expression is used in the theory of the macroscopic dielectric susceptibility of the nanocomposite which is developed using the anisotropic Lorentz-Lorenz equation. Finally, a shift and a splitting of the plasmon resonance of a nanoparticle are calculated determined by the polarizability anisotropy of the liquid crystal host.

Keywords

• nematic liquid crystals
• nanoparticles
• polarizability
• dielectric susceptibility