Abstract
An ellipsometric study of the interface between a nematic liquid crystal and water in the presence of a nonionic surfactant is presented. The surfactant induces a nematic wetting layer at temperatures above the bulk nematic-isotropic transition and the surfactant concentration serves as a handle to tune the strength of the ordering surface field. At low surfactant concentrations, a discontinuous jump in the thickness of the nematic wetting layer is observed at a temperature a few tenth of one centigrade above the bulk nematic-isotropic transition. With increasing surfactant concentration, this prewetting transition is driven towards a critical point.
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