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N. V. Kamanina^1,2,3, A. S. Toikka^2,3, Ya. V. Barnash^2,3, D. N. Redka^2,4, S. V. Lihkomanova^1,3,5, Yu. A. Zybtsova^1,3, P. V. Kyzhakov^1,3, Z. Jovanovic⁶, S. Jovanovic⁶

Author affiliations
¹Laboratory for Photophysics of media with nanoobjects at Vavilov State Optical Institute, St.-Petersburg, Russia
²Saint-Petersburg Electrotechnical University (“LETI”), Saint-Petersburg, Russia
³SRC “Kurchatov Institute – Petersburg Institute of Nuclear Physics, Leningrad Region, Gatchina, Russia
⁴Riga Technical University, Riga, Latvia
⁵Saint-Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation, Saint-Petersburg, Russia
⁶Laboratory of Physics, VINČA Institute of Nuclear Sciences – National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
*Corresponding author: nvkamanina@mail.ru

Abstract
The first experimental results on the functioning of liquid crystal cells doped with CoFe₂O₄ nanoparticles are presented. Transmission spectra in the visible and near-infrared range, dynamic parameters of the Fredericks effect, refractive characteristics, as well as wetting angles of the mesophase sensitized surfaces have been obtained. The measured surfaces were the K8 Crown glass, the conductive ITO and the ITO treated with a surface electromagnetic wave. The experiment was performed in order to establish the prospect of using such reliefs as a novel liquid crystal composite orientator sensitized with CoFe₂O₄ nanoparticles. A color change of the liquid crystal matrix, its refractive coefficients alterations, and the variation of inclination angle of the sensitized liquid crystal droplets on the considered reliefs were established. The time reaction parameters and the medium relaxation parameters were measured. It was proposed that the liquid crystal composition is a kind of an immersion medium that preserves properties of the introduced nanoparticles, which expands their application scope in optoelectronics and biomedicine.

Keywords: liquid crystal materials, CoFe₂O₄ nanoparticles, sensitization, surface relief, wetting phenomena, dynamic characteristics