Anchoring transitions in a liquid crystal film near the interacting wall: A mean-force potentials approach

Abstract

Statistical–mechanical theory based on the concept of the mean-force potentials is applied for description of the anchoring transitions in the liquid crystal system near a solid surface. This approach took into account not only the two-particle correlations between the nearest and next-nearest neighbors, but also the surface attractive interactions. The calculations have been carried out for cubic close packing with the Gay–Berne intermolecular potential interaction and with a (9-3)-like orientation-dependent molecule–wall interaction. Our calculations show that the number of surface layers to be taken into account depends more on the nature of interparticle correlations in the system than on the direct interaction of the wall with the nematic. It has been shown that there are several scenarios for anchoring transitions in such systems in a certain temperature and volume range.