Planar anchoring of polar liquid crystal molecules in slit pore-molecular dynamics simulation study

Results of molecular dynamics simulations for polar molecules confined to a slit pore with planar anchoring are reported. A molecule is represented by a Gay-Berne particle with a non-central axial dipole moment. To get inform ation about the structure and phase behaviour of the system, on cooling and heating at constant density, the energy, heat capacity, orientational orde r parameter, and longitudinal- and transverse-distributions of the molecule s are analysed. In comparison with the results for the bulk system the nema tic phase is much wider. The smectic layers are developed from the pore wal ls independently, which leads to defects in the smectic structure of the sy stem. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.