Escaped Radial and Planar Liquid Crystal Orientation Inside Capillaries

Abstract

In this paper we present the experimental results of two configurations of liquid crystals (LCs) in capillaries: escaped radial and planar induced by thermally activated anchoring conditions. 6CHBT nematic LC was filled into silica glass capillaries with inner diameters of 13 and 8 μm. The homeotropic and planar boundary conditions were realized by using commercially available alignment materials.

Keywords:

• liquid crystals
• LC orientation
• aligning materials
• photonic crystal fibers

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Polish Ministry of Science and Education under the grants N N517 554139 and N N507 439539 and partially by the MISTRZ Programme of the Polish Science Foundation. M. Chychłowski acknowledges the European Social Fund through the Warsaw University of Technology Development Programme granted by the European Union.