title: Effective free-energy method for nematic liquid crystals in contact with structured substrates.
abstract: We study the phase behavior of a nematic liquid crystal confined between a flat substrate with strong anchoring and a patterned substrate whose structure and local anchoring strength we vary. By first evaluating an effective surface free-energy function characterizing the patterned substrate, we derive an expression for the effective free energy of the confined nematic liquid crystal. Then we determine phase diagrams involving a homogeneous state in which the nematic director is almost uniform and a hybrid aligned nematic state in which the orientation of the director varies through the cell. Direct minimizations of the free-energy functional were performed in order to test the predictions of the effective free-energy method. We find remarkably good agreement between the phase boundaries calculated from the two approaches. In addition, the effective free-energy method allows one to determine the energy barriers between two states in a bistable nematic device.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung, Heisenbergstrasse 3, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Harnau
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kondrat
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Poniewierski