Tilt Angle Profiles for Splay-Bend Deformations in a Nematic Sample Submitted to an External Field

ABSTRACT

The exact tilt angle profiles for splay-bend deformations, in nematic liquid crystal samples limited by inhomogeneous surfaces, are determined in the one-constant approximation. The boundary value problem, concerning the situation of strong anchoring at the surfaces of a sample in the shape of a slab of thickness d (Dirichlet's problem) in the presence of an external uniform field, is analytically solved. The solutions are given in closed general forms, written in terms of propagators. This general formalism is applied to two representative examples to obtain the explicit expressions for the tilt angles and to determine analytically the optical path differences.

Keywords:

• external field effects
• liquid crystals
• nematics
• splay-bend deformations Pacs: 61.30.-v 61.30.Gd 61.30.Cz

Acknowledgments

Many thanks are due to G. Barbero (Torino) for useful discussions. This work was partially supported by Brazilian Agencies Capes and CNPq.