Abstract.
We present a study of the effect of weak anchoring on the transition between C1 and C2 chevron structures in smectic-C liquid crystals. The coexistence of C1 and C2 chevron structures within a single cell causes zigzag defects to occur and may affect the optical characteristics of the cell. By standard Euler-Lagrange minimisation of the total energy of the system, we obtain analytical expressions for the equilibrium director cone angle in the two chevron states. These in turn allow us to compare the total energies of the states and determine the globally stable chevron profile. We show that analytical predictions for the critical transition temperature, which depends on anchoring strength and pretilt angle, are in good agreement with those obtained numerically.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
T.P. Rieker, N.A. Clark, G.S. Smith, G.S. Parmar, E.B. Sirota, C.R. Safinya, Phys. Rev. Lett. 59, 2658 (1987).
N.A. Clark, T.P. Rieker, Phys. Rev. A 37, 1053 (1988).
S.T. Lagerwall, Ferroelectric and Anti-ferroelectric Liquid Crystals (Wiley-VCH, Weinheim 1999).
N.A. Clark, S.T. Lagerwall, Appl. Phys. Lett. 36, 899 (1980).
M. Nakagawa, Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst. 174, 65 (1989).
M. Nakagawa, Displays 11, 67 (1990).
S. Mukai, M. Nakagawa, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 62, 1984 (1993).
C. Anderson, PhD Thesis, University of Strathclyde (1999).
A. de Meyere, H. Paulwels, E. de Ley, Liq. Cryst. 14, 1269 (1993).
L. Limat, J. Prost, Liq. Cryst. 13, 101(1993).
L. Limat, J. Phys. II 5, 803 (1995).
N.J. Mottram, N. Ul Islam, S.J. Elston, Phys. Rev. E 60, 613 (1999).
N. Vaupotič, S. Kralj, M. Čopič, T.J. Sluckin, Phys. Rev. E 54, 3783 (1996).
S.M. Beldon, N.J. Mottram, S.J. Elston, Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst. 365, 729 (2001).
A.N. Shalaginov, L.D. Hazelwood, T.J. Sluckin, Phys. Rev. E 58, 7455 (1998).
A.N. Shalaginov, L.D. Hazelwood, T.J. Sluckin, Phys. Rev. E 60, 4199 (1999).
A. Diaz, N.J. Mottram, G. McKay, Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst. 438, 1581 (2005).
C. Wang, R. Kurihara, P.J. Bos, S. Kobayashi, J. Appl. Phys. 90, 4452 (2001).
A.S. Morse, H.F. Gleeson, S. Cummings, Liq. Cryst. 23, 717 (1997).
I.W. Stewart, The Static and Dynamic Continuum Theory of Liquid Crystals (Taylor and Francis, London and New York, 2004).
S.A. Pikin, Structural Transformations in Liquid Crystals (Gordon & Breach, New York, 1991).
S.J. Elston, J.R. Sambles, The Optics of Thermotropic Liquid Crystals (Taylor and Francis, London and New York, 1998).
F. Giesselmann, P. Zugenmaier, I. Dierking, S.T. Lagerwall, B. Stebler, M. Kaspar, V. Hamplova, M. Glogarova, Phys. Rev. E 60, 598 (1999).
N.J. Mottram, S.J. Elston, Eur. Phys. J. B 12, 277 (1999).
D. Demus, J.W. Goodby, G.W. Gray, H.W. Spiess, V. Vill, Handbook of Liquid Crystals, Vol. 1 (Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 1998).
C.V. Brown, J.C. Jones, P.E. Dunn, Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst. A 331, 2325 (1999).
A. Findon, H.F. Gleeson, Ferroelectrics 277, 35 (2002).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Diaz, A., Mottram, N.J. & McKay, G. Theoretical model of the transition between C1 and C2 chevron structures in smectic liquid crystals. Eur. Phys. J. E 18, 231–237 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2005-10041-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2005-10041-7