Temperature Dependence of the Pretilt Angle for Liquid Crystals: A Comparison Between Theories and Experiments

Abstract

Data for the temperature dependence of the pretilt angles for nematic liquid crystal mixtures on a polyimide surface are compared with different theories. It is found that our recently proposed population distribution model can explain all the observations well, when we assume a Boltzmann distribution between the different states. The only exception is one sample with azoxybenzenes, which undergo chemical changes.

Key Words:

• pretilt angle
• temperature dependence
• polulation distribution