Studies of the anchoring energy of nematics on grooved surfaces

Previously we developed optical method enabling measurements of the liquid crystal twist angle in the cells with grooved surfaces. In this work azimut hal anchoring energy of a liquid crystal to a surface is estimated by measu ring the deviation of the twist angle of the liquid crystal from the angle defined by direction of liquid crystal alignment on one rubbed and one groo ved surfaces substrates. It was found that the twist angle it the cells dep ends not only on the parameters of the grooves, but also strongly depends o n the material covering the grooves.