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Abstract
Kaznacheev and Sonin have presented a model to explain the so-called spontaneous Freedericksz transition in nematic liquid crystals (1983, Sov. Phys. solid Sr, 25, 528; 1984, Ibid, 26, 486). A surface polarization, coupled with the negative anisotropy of the nematic, turns the two homeotropic anchoring plates into planar anchoring plates. We show that this model, correctly solved, cannot explain the observed critical thickness. The spontaneous Freedericksz transition is in fact the surface instability of a hybrid cell with weak planar anchoring.
