| Dispersions of colloidal particles are excellent
model systems of classical statistical mechanics in order to understand
the principles of self-organization processes.
Using an external field (e.g. electric
or magnetic field) the effective interaction between the colloidal
particles can be tailored and the system can be brought into
non-equilibrium in a controlled way. In this talk,
liquid crystalline colloidal dispersions will be discussed including:
i) rhythmic clustering in driven nematics, ii) active liquid crystals
in confinement, iii) nonequilibrium dynamics
of colloidal nematics induced by in-plane rotating aligning fields. |