title: Orientational phase transition and the solvation force in a nematic liquid crystal confined between inhomogeneous substrates.
abstract: A nematic liquid crystal confined between two identical flat solid substrates, with an alternating stripe pattern of planar and homeotropic anchoring, is studied in the framework of the Frank-Oseen theory. By means of numerical minimization of the free energy functional we study the effect of the sample thickness D on the location of the phase transition between a uniform alignment, either planar or homeotropic, and a distorted nematic texture. The solvation force f due to distortions of the nematic director is also studied. It is found that f is always attractive, and for D small compared to the periodicity of the surface structure it exhibits two distinct asymptotic behaviors: f approximately -D(-1/2) or f approximately -D(-1), depending on the relation between D and the extrapolation lengths.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kasprzaka 44/52, 01-224 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kondrat
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Poniewierski
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Harnau