Ferro-nematics and their outlook

We report on the development of ferronematic liquid crystals, new materials that consist of a dilute suspension of ferroelectric particles in a nematic liquid crystal host. The particles share their ferroelectric properties with the nematic liquid crystal and impose a spontaneous dielectric polarization of about 10 nC/$cm^2$ to the entire medium, typical for many ferroelectric liquid crystals. As expected, these new materials have enhanced dielectric anisotropy and are sensitive to the sign of an applied electric field. The potential of their use in a number of devices are discussed.