Orientational Structures in Chiral Nematic Liquid Crystals for Weak Anchoring

Abstract

This work presents a unitary mode to describe orientational structures of extreme free energy for Unidimensional distortions of a chiral nematic layer with weak tilted anchoring at limiting surfaces, using structure parameters. The case of an applied electric field was also considered. A generalised expression for surface energy involving both polar and azimuthal deformations was introduced A classification of possible structures having monotonous or non-monotonous variations of the tilt angle is presented. The solving of the equation system that links the structure parameters in each case is given.