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Updated: May 18, 2026

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
Critical behavior in an electric-field-induced anchoring transition in a liquid crystal
Satoshi Aya1, Khoa V Le, Yuji Sasaki
1Department of Organic and Polymeric Materials, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1-S8-42 O-okayama, Meguro, Tokyo 152-8552, Japan.
Abstract:
We report an anchoring transition of a liquid crystal under the influence of an electric field (E field) in the vicinity of a first-order anchoring transition (ATr) temperature showing bistable homeotropic (H) and planar (P) states. By means of polarizing microscopy combined with retardation and switching and dielectric measurements, three important observations were made: (1) The anchoring transition from H to P driven by an E field is first order with a threshold E-field strength, which decreases with increasing temperature; (2) the thickness of the H layer that is to be converted to the P orientation increases toward ATr temperature T(ATr); and (3) the temperature dependence of both parameters is well described by a power law.
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