Abstract
Using the evanescent-wave ellipsometry technique, we have observed the growth of a disordered liquid-crystal layer adjacent to a -coated surface near the nematic-isotropic transition. We have also observed the pretransitional growth of a planar-oriented liquid-crystal layer in the isotropic phase of the same system, with a negative orientational order parameter. Both behaviors can be explained quantitatively by the Landau–de Gennes theory.
- Received 14 March 1991
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.67.2033
©1991 American Physical Society