Abstract
The thermodynamic behaviour of a semi-infinite cholesteric sample close to a disordering surface is analyzed within the frame of the Landau-Ginzburg-de Gennes theory. In particular, the effect of the boundary on the field-induced cholesteric-nematic phase transition is considered. The appearance of a nematic layer on the top of the cholesteric bulk phase is predicted and an experiment which could possibly demonstrate this phenomenon is proposed.
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