paper

Phase behavior of a nematic liquid crystal in contact with a chemically and geometrically structured substrate

arXiv:cond-mat/0503468 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.72.011701

Abstract

A nematic liquid crystal in contact with a grating surface possessing an alternating stripe pattern of locally homeotropic and planar anchoring is studied within the Frank--Oseen model. The combination of both chemical and geometrical surface pattern leads to rich phase diagrams, involving a homeotropic, a planar, and a tilted nematic texture. The effect of the groove depth and the anchoring strengths on the location and the order of phase transitions between different nematic textures is studied. A zenithally bistable nematic device is investigated by confining a nematic liquid crystal between the patterned grating surface and a flat substrate with strong homeotropic anchoring.

arXiv comment7 pages, 7 figures

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