Non-Debye screening of a surface charge and a bulk-ion-controlled anchoring transition in a nematic liquid crystal.
We study the anchoring mechanism due to substrate-adsorbed ions by examining a related anchoring transition. An analytical solution to the Poisson equation shows that, as their number suffices for a non-negligible anchoring contribution, the surface field is screened over some characteristic microscopic distance. It is shown both theoretically and experimentally that the critical temperature of the transition can be controlled by bulk ion density through its relation to the density of adsorbed ions.
Nazarenko
V G
VG
Institute of Physics, Prospect Nauki 46, Kyiv-22, 252022 Ukraine. vnazaren@iop.kiev.ua
Pergamenshchik
V M
VM
Koval'chuk
O V
OV
Nych
A B
AB
Lev
B I
BI