Extended Data Fig. 3: Uniaxial nematic dispersions and magnetic field alignment of disks.
From: Thermally reconfigurable monoclinic nematic colloidal fluids
a–c, Uniaxial nematic phase characterized by upconverting luminescence confocal images (a, c) and numerical visualization (b) for in-plane (a) and out-of-plane (c) nm, showing the random orientations of the disk normals ωc in the plane perpendicular to nm. The orientation of the cross-sectional confocal image shown in a is depicted in b with a grey plane. d, Confocal image of a sample within a uniaxial–orthorhombic co-existence region with local correlations of ωc orientations. The disk number density is ρ = 0.16 μm−3 (a), ρ = 0.11 μm−3 (c) and ρ = 0.21 μm−3 (d). e–h, Magnetic alignment of initially randomly oriented disk normals ωc (e, f) to point perpendicular to both nm and B at magnetic field amplitude B = 100 mT (g, h). Visualizations in f, h correspond to the images in e, g, respectively; ρ = 0.09 μm−3 and Z*e ≈ +80e in e, g. i, j, Confocal image (i) and numerical visualization (j) for a uniaxial nematic with disks oriented obliquely to nm at T = 31.5 ± 0.1 °C and ρ = 0.08 μm−3. k, l, Confocal image (k) and numerical visualization (l) of a uniaxial nematic at ρ = 0.19 μm−3 and T = 34.0 ± 0.1 °C.
