Time dependence of the magnetic grain concentration and secondary grain aggregation in ferronematic lyotropic liquid crystals subjected to magnetic field gradients.

The dynamical behavior of lyotropic nematic liquid crystals doped with ionic and surfacted magnetic fluids (ferronematics) is studied using a linear optical technique. The response of these mesophases to a combination of a static and a pulsed magnetic field is investigated by measuring the relaxation times as a function of the pulse width. A reversible modification of the magnetic grain concentration in the bulk of the samples and a secondary aggregation process due to the presence of a field gradient introduced by the pulsed field is discussed.