Eur. Phys. J. E (2016) 39: 13
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2016-16013-x

Regular Article

Wetting of cholesteric liquid crystals

Centro de Física Teórica e Computacional and Departamento de Física, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016, Lisboa, Portugal

^* e-mail: nmsilvestre@fc.ul.pt

Received: 14 July 2015
Revised: 30 September 2015
Accepted: 5 October 2015
Published online: 25 February 2016

Abstract

We investigate theoretically the wetting properties of cholesteric liquid crystals at a planar substrate. If the properties of substrate and of the interface are such that the cholesteric layers are not distorted, the wetting properties are similar to those of a nematic liquid crystal. If, on the other hand, the anchoring conditions force the distortion of the liquid crystal layers the wetting properties are altered, the free cholesteric-isotropic interface is non-planar and there is a layer of topological defects close to the substrate. These deformations can either promote or hinder the wetting of the substrate by a cholesteric, depending on the properties of the cholesteric liquid crystal.