Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 28, 2026

Atomically Defined Templates for Epitaxial Growth of Complex Oxide Thin Films
Published on: December 4, 2014
Shaping thin nematic films with competing boundary conditions
1Nordita, Royal Institute of Technology & Stockholm University, Roslagstullsbacken 23, SE-10691, Stockholm, Sweden, oksanam@nordita.org.
Abstract:
Free interfaces of liquid crystals tend to minimise both capillarity and anchoring forces. Here we study nematic films in planar and radial geometries with antagonistic anchoring boundary conditions and one deformable interface. Assuming a perturbation ansatz we study possible couplings of the director configuration with the shape of free interfaces. In the long-wavelength limit independent of the surface tension, we find analytically the threshold thickness when the flat film becomes unstable. Next we quantify the bifurcation of a circular ring towards structures with m-fold rotational symmetry, induced by elastic anisotropy of the nematic director in the bulk. We believe that our simplified approach can give additional insight into elastic and capillary phenomena of materials with inherent liquid crystalline order and free interfaces.
Related Concept Videos
Electrostatic Boundary Conditions in Dielectrics
Consider a case where both the mediums across a boundary are two different dielectric materials. Recall that the electric field and electric displacement are proportional and related through the material's permittivity....
Magnetostatic Boundary Conditions
Boundary Conditions for Current Density
Electrostatic Boundary Conditions
The surface integral of an electric field is given by Gauss's law in integral form and is related to...
Boundary Conditions: Lossless Lines
At the receiving end, the boundary condition states that the voltage equals the product of the receiving-end impedance and current. This relationship is expressed as a function of the incident and...
Boundary Layer Characteristics

