A tool to control the nematic surface alignment: Anchoring competition

The problem to obtain a suitable surface texture for a nematic liquid cryst al is dealt by means of the fine control of the anchoring properties or ind ependent surface aligning attractors. This approch allows to obtain monosta ble oblique and planar surface directors and even bistable anchoring condit ions. Both cases of azimuthal and zenithal anchorings are considered. Exper imental observations are made using composite surfaces with thin superposed different aligning layers. Phenomenological models are used to describe th e experimental results and to suggest new applications of this point of vie w. that can be easily extended to all mesomorphic materials.