Boundary-layer phase transition in nematic liquid crystals

Investigation into the temperature dependence of isotropic- nematic phase transition of Gay- Berne liquid crystals

Density functional approach was used to study the isotropic- nematic (I-N) transition and calculate the values of freezing parameters of the Gay- Berne liquid crystal model. New direct and pair correlation functions of a molecular fluid with Gay- Berne pair potential were used. These new functions were used in density functional theory as input to calculate the isotropic- nematic transition den...

Surface-layer phase transitions in nematic liquid crystals.

Boundary-Roughness Effects in Nematic Liquid Crystals

We study the equilibrium configuration of a nematic liquid crystal bounded by a rough surface. The wrinkling of the surface induces a partial melting in the degree of orientation. This softened region penetrates the bulk up to a length scale which turns out to coincide with the characteristic wave length of the corrugation. Within the boundary layer where the nematic degree of orientation decre...

Freedericksz transition in polymer-stabilized nematic liquid crystals

We have constructed polymer-stabilized nematic liquid crystals by photopolymerizing diacrylate monomers in the nematic phase. The orientation of the liquid crystal was controlled by the polymer network. We studied the Freedericksz transition in these systems. Experimentally we studied the transition by measuring the capacitance of the liquid crystal cells as a function of applied voltage. The t...

On the Isotropic-Nematic Transition in Polymer Liquid Crystals

A system of polymers dissolved in liquid crystal is studied in the isotropic phase. A mean eld theory is proposed which undergoes spontaneous breaking of the rotational symmetry and reduces to the theory of polymer nematics. In order to eliminate closed loops of polymers from entering into the theory, the polymers are replicated n times and then n is taken to zero similarly to the procedures of...