  Colloidal particles disturb the alignment of rod-like molecules of liquid
crystals, giving rise to long-range interactions that minimize the free energy
of distorted regions. Particle shape and topology are known to guide this
self-assembly process. However, how chirality of colloidal inclusions affects
these long-range interactions is unclear. Here we study the effects of
distortions caused by chiral springs and helices on the colloidal
self-organization in a nematic liquid crystal using laser tweezers, particle
tracking and optical imaging. We show that chirality of colloidal particles
interacts with the nematic elasticity to predefine chiral or racemic colloidal
superstructures in nematic colloids. These findings are consistent with
numerical modelling based on the minimization of Landau-de Gennes free energy.
Our study uncovers the role of chirality in defining the mesoscopic order of
liquid crystal colloids, suggesting that this feature may be a potential tool
to modulate the global orientated self-organization of these systems.

Soft Condensed Matter;Materials Science