Wetting and Capillary Condensation in Liquid Crystal Systems

Abstract

Abstract We discuss, using general principles, the growth of a nematic wetting layer at a surface in an isotropic fluid close to the nematic-isotropic transition. The effect of competition between the nematic anchoring at a wall and at the incipient isotropic surface can lead to effects which are particular to systems with orientational order. Such effects also change the Kelvin equation which governs the shift in the nematic-isotropic phase transition in a finite geometry.