Liquid crystal director fluctuations and surface anchoring by molecular simulation

We propose a simple and reliable method to measure the liquid crystal surfa ce anchoring strength by molecular simulation. The method is based on the m easurement of the long-range fluctuation modes of the director in confined geometry. As an example, molecular simulations of a liquid crystal in slab geometry between parallel walls with homeotropic anchoring have been carrie d out using the Monte Carlo technique. By studying different slab thickness es, we are able to calculate separately the position of the elastic boundar y condition and the extrapolation length.