Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 8, 2026

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
Surface alignment and anchoring transitions in nematic lyotropic chromonic liquid crystal
V G Nazarenko1, O P Boiko, H-S Park
1Institute of Physics, prospect Nauky 46, Kiev-39, 03039, Ukraine.
Abstract:
The surface alignment of lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals can not only be planar (tangential) but also homeotropic, with self-assembled aggregates perpendicular to the substrate, as demonstrated by mapping optical retardation and by three-dimensional imaging of the director field. With time, the homeotropic nematic undergoes a transition into a tangential state. The anchoring transition is discontinuous and can be described by a double-well anchoring potential with two minima corresponding to tangential and homeotropic orientation.
Related Concept Videos
Cell Migration
Polymer Classification: Crystallinity
Crystalline domains are the regions where polymer chains are aligned in an orderly manner and held together in proximity by intermolecular forces. For example, chains in the crystalline domains of polyethylene and nylon are bound together by van der Waals...
Cationic Chain-Growth Polymerization: Mechanism
Micelles
Structures of Solids
Fluid Mosaic Model

