Field-induced anti-nematic ordering in assemblies of anisotropically polarizable particles

We have investigated the effects of dipolar interactions in a lattice system of anisotropically polarizable particles in the presence of an external field both by Monte Carlo computer simulations and through a mean-field analysis. In a specific range of low temperature, large external field and large particle density, a novel staggered nematic structure is found, in which two intercalated sublattices have different nematic order parameters. First- and second-order phase transition lines, connected at a tricritical point, enclose the anti-nematic phase in the temperature-density plane.