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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
Orientational quenched disorder of a nematic liquid crystal
Mathieu Nespoulous1, Christophe Blanc, Maurizio Nobili
1Laboratoire des Colloïdes, Verres et Nanomatériaux, Université Montpellier II, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34090 Montpellier, France.
Abstract:
By means of direct imaging, we map the surface heterogeneities of the nematic director orientation on a SiOx anchoring layer. The spatial correlations of surface director orientations are well fitted with a compressed exponential with exponent of 1.5 and typical correlation length of few microns. To discuss these results a formal analogy is established between the equation governing the nematic surface torques and the Langevin equation. Based on this analogy we prove that the disorder is spatially correlated orientational quenched disorder. The measured correlation length is discussed in terms of substrate morphology and molecular adsorption.
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