| Issue |
Europhys. Lett.
Volume 73, Number 5, March 2006
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 712 - 718 | |
| Section | Condensed matter: structural, mechanical and thermal properties | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i2005-10459-5 | |
| Published online | 01 February 2006 | |
Control of the orientation of thin open supported columnar liquid crystal films by the kinetics of growth
Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal, CNRS UPR 8641, Université Bordeaux 1 115 avenue Albert Schweitzer, F-33600 Pessac, France
Corresponding author: grelet@crpp-bordeaux.cnrs.fr
Received:
26
October
2005
Accepted:
10
January
2006
We report a study of the growth and of the orientation of thin open supported columnar liquid crystal films by thermal annealing. We show that there is a competition between planar and homeotropic orientations (columns respectively oriented parallel and perpendicular to the solid substrate) of the liquid crystal, which can be controlled by the kinetics of annealing. A model based on the different surface tensions of the system is proposed to account for the experimental observations. Such a control of the alignment opens the way towards discotics based optoelectronic devices.
PACS: 61.30.Hn – Surface phenomena: alignment, anchoring, anchoring transitions, surface-induced layering, surface-induced ordering, wetting, prewetting transitions, and wetting transitions / 64.70.Md – Transitions in liquid crystals / 68.55.-a – Thin film structure and morphology
© EDP Sciences, 2006
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