Abstract
Using an evanescent-wave ellipsometric technique, we have studied the wall-induced orientational order in the isotropic phase of (5CB) at a silane-treated glass surface. Near the isotropic-nematic transition temperature , a weak nematic layer appears at the interface with its thickness exhibiting a critical divergence as according to . This observed pretransitional behavior is qualitatively at variance with the existing theories.
- Received 6 August 1986
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.57.3065
©1986 American Physical Society