Abstract
Nematic liquid crystals are characterized by the occurrence of disclination lines, topological defects where the average molecular orientation changes abruptly. Recent experiments have shown that, in addition to their application in displays, liquid crystals permit the detection of ligand-receptor binding by optical amplification. The optimal design of LC-based biosensors requires an understanding of the effects of the presence of biomolecules on the structure and dynamics of nematic liquid crystals. We present a multiscale approach that combines molecular simulations and mesoscale modeling: Monte Carlo simulations are used to study the interactions of diluite colloidal particles, as well as the structure of topological defects; these results compare satisfactorily with the corresponding theoretical calculations at the mesoscale level. The mesoscale modeling of a multi-particle sensor shows that adsorbed biomo- lecules modify the relaxation dynamics in the device: at low surface-coverage densities, the equilibrium structure is characterized by a slightly perturbed uniform nematic order; at a critical density, the dynamics exhibits a slowdown at late stages, characteristic of the inability of the nematic to achieve a uniform order. These results are compared with experimental observations of the nematic response in biosensors.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
V. K. Gupta, J. J. Skaife, T. B. Dubrovsky, and N. L. Abbott, Science, 279:2077, 1998.
J. J. Skaife and N. L. Abbott, Langmuir, 16:3529, 2000.
J. J. Skaife and N. L. Abbott, Langmuir, 17:5595, 2001.
Y.-Y. Luk, M. L. Tingey, D. J. Hall, B. A. Israel, C. J. Murphy, P. J. Bertics, and N. L. Abbott, Langmuir, 19(5):1671, 2003.
A. N. Beris and B. J. Edwards, Oxford University Press, 1994.
E.B. Kim, R. Faller, Q. Yan, N. L. Abbott, and J. J. de Pablo, J. Chem. Phys., 117(16):7781, 2002.
D. Chandler, Oxford University Press, New York, 1987.
A. P. Lyubartsev, A. A. Martinovski, S. V. Shevnukov, and P. N. Vorontsov-Velyanov, J. Chem. Phys., 96(3):1776, 1992.
F. Wang and D. P. Landau, Phys. Rev. Lett., 86(10):2050, 2001.
F. Wang and D. P. Landau, Phys. Rev. E, 64(5):056101, 2001.
S. Grollau, E. B. Kim, O. Guzman, N. L. Abbott, and J. J. de Pablo, in preparation, 2003.
Y. Gu and N. L. Abbott, Phys. Rev. Lett., 85(22):4719, 2000.
S. Grollau, N. L. Abbott, and J. J. de Pablo, Phys. Rev. E, 67(1):011702, 2003.
J. Fukuda and H. Yokoyama, Eur. Phys. J. E., 4:389, 2001.
P. Poulin and D. A. Weitz, Phys. Rev. E, 57(1):626, 1998.
R. W. Ruhwandl and E. M. Terentjev, Phys. Rev. E, 55(3):2958, 1997.
M. Tasinkevych, N. M. Silvestre, P. Patricio, and M. M. Telo Da Gama, European Physical Journal E, 9(4):341, 2002.
D. Andrienko, G. Germano, and M. P. Allen, Phys. Rev. E, 63(4):041701, 2001.
P. Galatola and J.-B. Fournier, Phys. Rev. Lett., 86(17):3915, 2001.
P. Galatola, J.-B. Fournier, and H. Stark, Physical Review E, 67(3):031404, 2003.
J. A. van Nelson, S. R. Kim, and N. L. Abbott, Langmuir, 18(13):5031, 2002.
K. Lin, J. C. Crocker, A. C. Zerio, and A. G. Yodh, Phys. Rev. Lett., 87(8):088301, 2001.
R. R. Shah and N. L. Abbott. Langmuir, 19(2):275, 2003.
A. J. Bray. Soft and fragile matter: Nonequilibrium Dynamics, Metastability and Flow, chapter Coarsening dyanmics of nonequilibrium phase transitions, pages 205, Institute of Physics Publishing, 2000.
A. P. Y. Wong, P. wiltzius, and B. Yurke, Phys. Rev. Lett., 68:3583, 1992.
A. P. Y. Wong, P. wiltzius, R. G. Larson, and B. Yurke, Phys. Rev. E, 47:2683, 1993.
R. E. Blundell and A. J. Bray, Phys. Rev. A, 46:R6154, 1992.
M. Zapotocky, P. M. Goldbart, and N. Goldenfeld, Phys. Rev. E, 51:1216, 1995.
A. Bhattacharya, M. Rao, and A. Chakrabarti, Phys. Rev. E, 53:4899, 1996.
N. V. Priezjev and R. A. Pelcovits, Phys. Rev. E, 64:031710, 2001.
N. V. Priezjev and R. A. Pelcovits, Phys. Rev. E, 66:051705, 2002.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2005 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this paper
Cite this paper
GuzmĂn, O., Grollau, S., Kim, E.B., de Pablo, J.J. (2005). Multiscale Simulation of Liquid Crystals. In: Pasini, P., Zannoni, C., Žumer, S. (eds) Computer Simulations of Liquid Crystals and Polymers. NATO Science Series II: Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, vol 177. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2760-5_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2760-5_11
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-2758-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-2760-4
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)