Wall Effect of Frederiks Transition in Nematic Liquid Crystals

Abstract

According to the elastic theory, the threshold voltage of the liquid crystal cell does not depend on the layer thickness. But the thickness dependence was shown experimentally for the homeotropic aligned methoxybenzyliden-p-buthylaniline. We discuss the Frederiks transition for the weak anchoring liquid crystal cell. Taking into account the surface interaction energy, the calculated result of the threshold voltage agrees well with the experimental results.