Orientational bistability and magneto-optical response in compensated ferronematic liquid crystals

In the framework of continuum theory we consider magnetic field induced transitions in soft compensated ferronematic liquid crystals, i.e., suspensions of ferromagnetic nanoparticles in nematic solvents with equiprobable distribution of the particles parallel and antiparallel to the director. Such systems are liquid-crystalline analogs of antiferromagnetics. We study the sequence of re-entrant transitions (uniform compensated phase - non-uniform phase - uniform saturation phase - non-uniform phase) between phases with different orientations of the director and magnetization. These transitions take place under the magnetic field action in the case of weak coupling between disperse magnetic phase and nematic matrix. We show that these transitions can be first or second order, and obtain the expressions for determining the order of orientational transitions. For the case of first order transitions, when the ferronematic shows orientational bistability, we study magnetic field influence on the orientational behavior of the director and magnetization, redistribution of magnetic impurity, and magneto-optical response. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.