Effective free-energy method for nematic liquid crystals in contact with structured substrates Export

@article{Harnau:2007:PRE, abstract = {We study the phase behavior of a nematic liquid crystal confined between a flat substrate with strong anchoring and a patterned substrate whose structure and local anchoring strength we vary. By first evaluating an effective surface free-energy function characterizing the patterned substrate, we derive an expression for the effective free energy of the confined nematic liquid crystal. Then we determine phase diagrams involving a homogeneous state in which the nematic director is almost uniform and a hybrid aligned nematic state in which the orientation of the director varies through the cell. Direct minimizations of the free-energy functional were performed in order to test the predictions of the effective free-energy method. We find remarkably good agreement between the phase boundaries calculated from the two approaches. In addition, the effective free-energy method allows one to determine the energy barriers between two states in a bistable nematic device.}, author = {Harnau, L. and Kondrat, S. and Poniewierski, A.}, citeulike-article-id = {5876390}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?prog=normal&id=PLEEE8000076000005051701000001&idtype=cvips&gifs=yes}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRE/v76/e051701}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.76.051701}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevE.76.051701}, journal = {Physical Review E (Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics)}, keywords = {aligning-pattern, anchoring, anchoring-pattern, bistability, bistability-zenithal}, number = {5}, pages = {051701+}, posted-at = {2009-10-02 13:11:00}, priority = {2}, publisher = {APS}, title = {Effective free-energy method for nematic liquid crystals in contact with structured substrates}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.76.051701}, volume = {76}, year = {2007} }

TY - JOUR ID - Harnau:2007:PRE L3 - citeulike-article-id:5876390 N2 - We study the phase behavior of a nematic liquid crystal confined between a flat substrate with strong anchoring and a patterned substrate whose structure and local anchoring strength we vary. By first evaluating an effective surface free-energy function characterizing the patterned substrate, we derive an expression for the effective free energy of the confined nematic liquid crystal. Then we determine phase diagrams involving a homogeneous state in which the nematic director is almost uniform and a hybrid aligned nematic state in which the orientation of the director varies through the cell. Direct minimizations of the free-energy functional were performed in order to test the predictions of the effective free-energy method. We find remarkably good agreement between the phase boundaries calculated from the two approaches. In addition, the effective free-energy method allows one to determine the energy barriers between two states in a bistable nematic device. IS - 5 JF - Physical Review E (Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics) TI - Effective free-energy method for nematic liquid crystals in contact with structured substrates PB - APS VL - 76 SP - 051701 KW - aligning-pattern KW - anchoring KW - anchoring-pattern KW - bistability KW - bistability-zenithal AU - Harnau, L AU - Kondrat, S AU - Poniewierski, A PY - 2007/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.76.051701 ER -