Alignment of Liquid Crystals with Patterned Isotropic Surfaces
Baek-woon Lee,
Noel A. Clark*
The molecules of a nematic liquid crystal exposed to an isotropic
surface adopt a mean tilt relative to the normal but have no in-plane
alignment--that is, they are free to have any azimuthal orientation in
the surface plane. Pursuing the theoretical suggestion by Meyer that,
in spite of this azimuthal degeneracy, spatially inhomogeneous
isotropic surfaces combine with liquid crystal elastic anisotropy to
produce alignment, we show that a boundary line between two isotropic
regions that differ in mean tilt does indeed align the liquid crystal.
The boundaries on a patterned surface of distinct isotropic regions
thus act as a system of lines that the molecular orientation locally
follows. This enables the development of liquid crystal alignment
surfaces based on printing or lithographic patterning.
Department of Physics, Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Materials
Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0390, USA.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed.
