Effects of Polymer Anchoring on Nematic Liquid Crystals at Nano-Structured Surfaces

A simplified model of the nano-structured polymeric surface was proposed,characterized by a one-dimensional periodic stripe patterned surface with alternate planar and homeotropic anchoring.This paper investigated the effect of both the coupling of nematic liquid crystals with alignment layer polymers and the coupling of the polymers with the substrate surface,on the anchoring of nematic liquid crystals at such a surface,using the extended anisotropic surface energy form proposed by Alexe-Ionescu et al.In our theoretical treatment,the equal anchoring strength of the two anchoring regions was assumed.The results show that the coupling of the polymer with the surface will affect the director field of the nematic,and reduce the relaxation distance as well as the total free energy of the system.