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Updated: Jun 14, 2026

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
Kinetics of director gliding on a polymer-liquid-crystal interface
1Research Institute for Solid State Physics and Optics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, PO Box 49, H-1525 Budapest, Hungary.
Abstract:
Magnetic-field-induced surface reorientation of nematic liquid crystals on polyethyl-methacrylate films is studied. The experiments indicate that the time scale of director gliding expands from a fraction of a second to several hours. A power-law distribution function of relaxation times provides very good agreement between measurements and calculated gliding curves. From the model an upper limit of the extrapolation length can be extracted, which points to a surprisingly strong equilibrium azimuthal anchoring of the liquid crystal on the polymer layer.
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