Direct nanomechanical measurement of an anchoring transition in a nematic liquid crystal subject to hybrid anchoring conditions
We have used a surface forces apparatus to measure the normal force between two solid curved surfaces confining a film of nematic liquid crystal (5CB, 4'-n-pentyl-4-cyanobiphenyl) under hybrid planar-homeotropic anchoring conditions. Upon reduction of the surface separation D, we measured an in...
| Veröffentlicht in: | Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids. - 1992. - 28(2012), 22 vom: 05. Juni, Seite 8371-83 |
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| Format: | Online-Aufsatz |
| Sprache: | English |
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2012
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| Zugriff auf das übergeordnete Werk: | Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids |
| Schlagworte: | Journal Article |
| Zusammenfassung: | We have used a surface forces apparatus to measure the normal force between two solid curved surfaces confining a film of nematic liquid crystal (5CB, 4'-n-pentyl-4-cyanobiphenyl) under hybrid planar-homeotropic anchoring conditions. Upon reduction of the surface separation D, we measured an increasingly repulsive force in the range D = 35-80 nm, reaching a plateau in the range D = 10-35 nm, followed by a short-range oscillatory force at D < 5 nm. The oscillation period was comparable to the cross-sectional diameter of the liquid crystal molecule and characteristic of a configuration with the molecules parallel to the surfaces. These results show that the director field underwent a confinement-induced transition from a splay-bend distorted configuration at large D, which produces elastic repulsive forces, to a uniform planar nondegenerate configuration with broken homeotropic anchoring, which does not produce additional elastic forces as D is decreased. These findings, supported by measurements of the birefringence of the confined film at different film thicknesses, provide the first direct observation of an anchoring transition on the nanometer scale |
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| Beschreibung: | Date Completed 06.09.2012 Date Revised 05.06.2012 published: Print-Electronic Citation Status PubMed-not-MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1520-5827 |
| DOI: | 10.1021/la204746d |