Biaxial ordering and field-induced configurational transition in nematic liquid crystals

We show that the competition between the correlation of liquid crystalline order and the orienting effect of applied field is crucial in determining t he characteristic behaviour of local ordering in the boundary layer, close to the substrates with strong anchoring. The equilibrium states for the low and the high field are found to be distinct. In particular, varying the fi eld strength can induce a phase transition, across which the order paramete r configuration changes continuously from one to the other of the two limit ing equilibrium states.