Temperature-induced surface transition in nematic liquid crystals oriented by evaporated SiOx.

Abstract

Temperature induced surface transitions observed in nematic liquid crystals oriented by obliquely evaporated SiOx are analyzed. It is shown that the experimental data can be interpreted with a theory for the thermal renormalization of the anisotropic part of the surface energy based on the mean field approximation. By assuming that the nematic scalar order parameter is given by the Maier-Saupe theory, the fit is obtained with only one free parameter. The temperature behaviors of the polar and azimuthal angles are in agreement with the proposed model over the whole temperature range.