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Surface polarization and effective anchoring energy in liquid crystals
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Brandon University, Brandon, Manitoba, Canada R7A 6A9.
Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics
|November 3, 2001
Abstract:
The influence of the surface polarization (SP) on the effective anchoring energy for both homeotropic and planar alignments of polar liquid crystals at a solid substrate is discussed from the energy point of view. It is shown that in a certain range of surface charge density the destabilizing SP mechanism may lead to destruction of the homeotropic or planar alignment of liquid crystalline molecules, such as 4-n-pentyl-4(')-cyanobiphenyl.