Molecular simulation and theory of liquid crystal surface anchoring

Abstract

Molecular simulations of a liquid crystal confined in slab geometry with homeotropic anchoring have been carried out. The application of an orientational perturbation has been used to calculate the surface extrapolation length λ = K ₃₃/W _θ, where W _θ is the surface anchoring coefficient and K ₃₃ is the bend elastic constant. Density functional theory in the Onsager approximation provides a reasonable description of the density and orientation profiles for this system, and of the magnitudes of the above quantities.