It has been shown that the surface free energy for a smooth interface between a nematic liquid crystal (NLC) and an isotropic medium contains four different contributions: a standard anchoring term, an elastic term and two curvature terms, In this paper we show that the four coefficients that enter the surface free energy can be obtained from suitable experiments performed on NLCs confined in a cylindrical cavity. It is also shown that the new surface free energy provides a satisfactory explanation for an apparent discrepancy of some previous experimental results. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.
The effects of curvature on nematic liquid crystals confined in a cylindrical cavity
FAETTI, SANDRO
1998-01-01
Abstract
It has been shown that the surface free energy for a smooth interface between a nematic liquid crystal (NLC) and an isotropic medium contains four different contributions: a standard anchoring term, an elastic term and two curvature terms, In this paper we show that the four coefficients that enter the surface free energy can be obtained from suitable experiments performed on NLCs confined in a cylindrical cavity. It is also shown that the new surface free energy provides a satisfactory explanation for an apparent discrepancy of some previous experimental results. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.File in questo prodotto:
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