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DY: Dynamik und Statistische Physik
DY 35: Ferro Fluids / Liquid Chrystals
DY 35.6: Talk
Wednesday, March 29, 2006, 15:45–16:00, SCH 251
The effect of rough surfaces on nematic liquid crystals. — •Friederike Schmid1, David Cheung1,2, and Jens Elgeti1,3 — 1Universität Bielefeld — 2University of Warwick UK — 3Forschungszentrum Jülich
We investigate the effect of rough surfaces on nematic liquid crystals with continuum theories and computer simulations. First we reconsider the phenomenon of Berreman anchoring, were highly ordered nematic liquid are oriented by surfaces with anisotropic roughness. Then we study liquid crystals close to the nematic-isotropic transition. Surface roughness reduces the order and the anchoring strength at the surface. As a result, the transition between the isotropic and the nematic phase is shifted in confined systems. Under certain circumstances, one can even enforce a wetting-induced anchoring transition.