Electrically Induced Structural Transformations of a Chiral Nematic under Tangential-Conical Boundary Conditions.

In this study, structural transformations induced by an electric field in the chiral nematic under tangential-conical boundary conditions have been considered. The composition influence of the orienting polymer films on the director tilt angles, the formation of orientational structures in the LC layer, as well as the electro-optical response and relaxation processes have been studied. It has been shown that the poly(tert-butyl methacrylate) concentration change in the orienting polymer mixture allows for smoothly controlling the director tilt angle without fixing its azimuthal orientation rigidly.

Nematic Structures under Conical Anchoring at Various Director Tilt Angles Specified by Polymethacrylate Compositions.

Dependence of the director tilt angle of nematic liquid crystal (LC) under conical anchoring from the two-component polymer mixture composition has been studied. We varied the ratio of poly(isobutyl methacrylate) (PiBMA), which specifies a conical anchoring for the nematic liquid crystal LN-396, and poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) assigning a tangential alignment for the same nematic. An oblique incidence light technique to determine a tilt angle has been used.