Effective anchoring and scaling in nematic liquid crystals
Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie Théorique,
ESPCI, 10 rue Vauquelin, F-75231 Paris Cédex 05,
France
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Received 29 March 1999 and Received in final form 13 September 1999
Abstract
We study, by coarse-graining methods, the dependence of the
nematic anchoring energy on the scale at which the orientation of
the nematic director is resolved. We obtain a relationship allowing
to compare anchoring measurements with different resolutions
performed on the same nematic-substrate system. Our theory also
permits to calculate the effective macroscopic anchoring
corresponding to a given micro-fabricated surface aligning pattern,
and to determine the limitations of this effective description.
PACS
61.30.-v Liquid crystals -
68.10.Cr Surface energy (surface tension, interface tension, angle of contact, etc.) -
68.45.-v Solid-fluid interfaces
Copyright EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag
