Fig. 4
Computer simulations of initial stage structure development. a–d Experimental high-speed video imaging snapshots representative of four stages in nematic nucleation and growth during the process: a initial nucleation and growth, b coarsening, c domain separation, and d secondary nucleation. e Two-dimensional (2D) cross-sections of three-dimensional (3D) simulation results for the early stages of nucleation and coarsening showing nanoparticle-rich (redder) and nanoparticle-poor regions (bluer). The images are colored with a linear scale in arbitrary units and overlaid with yellow arrows indicating local director orientation. The concentration distribution is compared with f, the calculated order parameter map for the same area using a linear scale from 0 to 1. The comparison clearly indicates a correlation between lower ordered regions and higher particle concentrations. g Average particle-rich domain size as a function of cooling rate calculated from simulation results. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean (s.e.m.) measured over five samples. Three simulation snapshots (inset) comparing cooling rates of 0.2, 0.5, and 1.0, from left to right
