Rodolfo T. de Souza, Cesare Chiccoli, Paolo Pasini, Luiz R. Evangelista e Claudio Zannoni

MOLECULAR CRYSTALS AND LIQUID CRYSTALS – Volume: 576; Issue: 1; Pages: 42-52; DOI: 10.1080/10584587.2013.789678

Nematic samples filling a flat cell or the annular region between two concentric cylinders with hybrid anchoring conditions at the boundaries are investigated by setting up and minimizing their Frank elastic free energy. The coupling with the surfaces is taken to be strong on one side and weak on the other. The equations are numerically solved and the conditions for which the molecular organization inside the cell becomes uniform are analyzed. The classical calculation performed by G. Barbero and R. Barberi [J. Physique 44, 609, (1983)] is reproduced and investigated from a different point of view, in order to compare the results of planar and cylindrical geometries. The results suggest that the cylindrical cell presents some unusual features deserving a more complete investigation. Although most part of the transitional phenomena are found for K₁₁ > K₃₃, a case not common for ordinary (lyotropic and thermotropic) liquid crystals, it is possible to find a completely uniform cell even for K_11.

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