Orientational structures in cholesteric droplets with homeotropic surface anchoring.

The dependency of orientational structures in cholesteric droplets with homeotropic surface anchoring on the helicity parameter has been studied by experiment and simulations. We have observed a sequence of structures, in which the director configurations and topological defects were identified by comparison of polarized microscopy pictures with simulated textures. A toron-like and low-symmetry intermediate layer-like structures have been revealed and studied in detail. The ranges of stability of the observed structures have been summarized in a general diagram and explained by the helicity parameter dependence of the free energy terms.

Biaxial potential of surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystals.

A biaxial surface potential Φ_{s} of smectic-C^{*} surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystals (SSFLCs) is introduced in this paper to explain the experimentally observed electric-field dependence of polarization P[over ̃]_{cell}(E), in particular the shape of the static hysteresis loops. Our potential consists of three independent parts. The first nonpolar part Φ_{n} describes the deviation of the prime director n (which is the most probable orientation of the long molecular axes) from the easy alignment axis R, which is located in the boundary surface plane. It is introduced in the same manner as the uniaxial Rapini potential. The second part Φ_{p} of the potential is a polar term associated with the presence of the polar axis in a FLC. The third part Φ_{m} relates to the inherent FLC biaxiality, which has not been taken into consideration previously. The Φ_{m} part takes into account the deviations of the secondary director m (which is the most probable orientation of the short molecular axes) from the normal to the boundary surface. The overall surface potential Φ_{s}, which is a sum of Φ_{n},Φ_{p}, and Φ_{m}, allows one to model the conditions when either one, two, or three minima of the SSFLC cell free energy are realized depending on the biaxiality extent. A monodomain or polydomain structure, as well as the bistability or monostability of SSFLC cells, depends on the number of free-energy minima, as confirmed experimentally. In this paper, we analyze the biaxiality impact on the FLC alignment. We also answer the question of whether the bistable or monostable structure can be formed in an SSFLC cell. Our approach is essentially based on a consideration of the biaxial surface potential, while the uniaxial surface potential cannot adequately describe the experimental observations in the FLC.

Optical orientation of nematic liquid crystal droplets via photoisomerization of an azodendrimer dopant.

Two sequential transformations of the orientational structure in nematic liquid crystal droplets containing a dendrimer additive (nanosized macromolecules with light-absorbing azobenzene terminal moieties) under light irradiation in the UV-blue spectral range were investigated. The origin of these transitions is in the change of the boundary conditions due to photoisomerization of the dendrimer adsorbed onto the liquid crystal-glycerol interface. It was shown that the photoisomerization processes of dendrimer molecules in a liquid crystal are accompanied by a spatial rearrangement of their azobenzene moieties, which is the key point in the explanation of the observed effects.

Bipolar configuration with twisted loop defect in chiral nematic droplets under homeotropic surface anchoring.

Optical textures and appropriate orientational structures have been studied within droplets of chiral nematic dispersed in polymer assigning the homeotropic anchoring. The helix axis of the chiral structure inside droplets forms the bipolar configuration. The optical droplet textures were analysed in the unpolarised light, analyser switching-off scheme and in crossed polarisers. The twisted loop defect reveals itself convincingly in all schemes. Its appearance at the optical patterns of the chiral nematic droplets has been examined depending on their size and the aspect direction. The existence of the defect has been verified by the structural and optical calculations. The effect of an electric field on both the defect line shape and the orientational structure of chiral nematic has been studied.

Communication: Orientational structure manipulation in nematic liquid crystal droplets induced by light excitation of azodendrimer dopant.

Reversible orientational transitions in the droplets of a nematic liquid crystal (NLC) caused by the change of boundary conditions under the low intensity diode illumination are investigated. Photosensitivity of NLC is achieved by the addition of the dendrimer compound with azobenzene terminal groups. Two types of NLC droplets in glycerol are considered: the spherical droplets in the bulk of glycerol and the droplets laid-down onto the solid substrate. In the second case, the first order phase transition is revealed. The effects described can be useful for the development of highly sensitive chemical detectors and microsized photo-tunable optical devices.

Orientational ordering of Janus colloids in cholesteric liquid crystals.

In this paper we show that Janus colloids, which are spherical particles with hybrid anchoring conditions, have preferable orientations in cholesteric media depending on the cholesteric wave vector. Simulations reveal that the tilt angle of a particle varies greatly with variation of the particle diameter to the cholesteric pitch ratio, which makes it possible to stabilize the appropriate particle orientation and to control it by variation of the cholesteric pitch.

Two transitions between isotropic and nematic phases in confined liquid crystals.

The molecular mean-field theory for the nematic-isotropic (N-Iso) phase transition in the vicinity of the surface is derived. We have shown that the nematic order parameter in liquid crystal near the surface is generally different from that in the bulk. It is never equal to zero if the anisotropic interaction with the surface is present. At the same time, transition from the phase with large nematic order parameter at the surface to the phase with small nematic order parameter at the surface is possible on heating. This surface transition always happens at higher temperatures than N-Iso phase transition related to the bulk. The theoretical prediction was well reproduced experimentally.

Observation of two isotropic-nematic phase transitions near a surface.

Using specified conditions, we succeeded in observing the isotropic-nematic (Iso-N) liquid crystal phase transition at surfaces followed by that in bulk for the first time. An additional heat anomaly peak was found at a higher temperature side of a main phase transition peak using highly sensitive differential scanning calorimetry (HS-DSC). The peak is pronounced particularly in the cooling process, since the transition starts at surfaces on cooling. The temperature dependence of retardation allows us to safely conclude that the higher temperature peak that appeared in HS-DSC is attributed to the Iso-N transition at surfaces. These measurements also indicate that the surface transition is of first order. These behaviors were theoretically explained by generalized Maier-Saupe theory.