Saturn-ring defects around microspheres suspended in nematic liquid crystals: an analogy between confined geometries and magnetic fields.

Particles suspended in a nematic liquid crystal exhibit characteristic dipolar and Saturn-ring configurations. Using results on the magnetic-field behavior of these configurations, we explain the recent observation of the Saturn-ring defect in confined geometries based on the idea that a confining geometry and a magnetic field generate a similar "confinement" for the nematic phase.