Rotational Diffusion of Monodisperse Liquid Crystal Droplets

many isotropic oils, this liquid crystal is not soluble in water. We therefore We have prepared monodisperse suspensions of nematic liquid use an ionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), to stabilize the crystal droplets in water. The droplets are stabilized by polyvinyl droplets. This allows us to use standard fractionated crystallization methods alcohol, a polymer that induces planar anchoring of the liquid to purify the crude emulsion; after four steps, we obtain monodisperse crystal molecules at the surface of the droplets. The resultant droplets about 0.6 mm in diameter, as determined with an optical microparticles exhibit strong optical anisotropy while having a spherical scope. The polydispersity of the droplets is estimated to be DR /R Ç 15%. shape. As a consequence, the light scattering from the particles At room temperature, the liquid crystal is in the nematic phase, so the contains a strong depolarized component. We report a simple apmolecules have a preferential orientation (7) . This alignment results in the plication of this feature by performing dynamic light scattering formation of a topological defect within the droplets (6) . The nature of this experiments to measure the rotational diffusion of colloidal defect depends on the anchoring conditions of the liquid crystal molecules at spheres in a dilute suspension. q 1998 Academic Press the surface of the droplet. When SDS is used to stabilize the droplets, the