ORIENTATIONAL STRUCTURES IN CHIRAL NEMATIC LIQUID-CRYSTALS FOR WEAK ANCHORING

This work presents a unitary mode to describe orientational structures of extreme free energy for unidimensional distortions of a chiral nem atic layer with weak tilted anchoring at limiting surfaces, using stru cture parameters. The case of an applied electric field was also consi dered. A generalised expression for surface energy involving both pola r and azimuthal deformations was introduced. A classification of possi ble structures having monotonous or non-monotonous variations of the t ilt angle is presented The solving of the equation system that links t he structure parameters in each case is given.