Degenerate conic anchoring and colloidal elastic dipole-hexadecapole transformations

The defect structure associated with a colloid in a nematic liquid crystal is dictated by molecular orientation at the colloid surface. Perpendicular or parallel orientations to the surface lead to dipole-like or quadrupole-like defect structures. However, the so-called elastic hexadecapole discovered recently, has been assumed to result from a conic anchoring condition. In order to understand it at a fundamental level, a model for this anchoring is introduced here in the context of a Landau-de Gennes free energy functional. We investigate the evolution of defect configurations, as well as colloidal interactions, by tuning the preferred tilt angle (theta(e)). The model predicts an elastic dipole whose stability decreases as theta(e) increases, along with a dipole-hexadecapole transformation, which are confirmed by our experimental observations. Taken together, our results suggest that previously unanticipated avenues may exist for design of self-assembled structures via control of tilt angle.