Anchoring and orientational wetting of nematic liquid crystals on self-assembled monolayer substrates: An evanescent wave ellipsometric study

Physical Review E - Statistical Physics, Plasmas, Fluids, and Related Interdisciplinary Topics

Volumn 59, Issue 3, 1999, Pages 3033-3039

  Alkhairalla, B ^a   Allinson, H ^a   Boden, N ^a   Evans, S D ^a   Henderson, J R ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0000612211     PISSN: 1063651X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.59.3033     Document Type: Article

References (38)

1. S. Chandrasekhar, Liquid Crystals (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1977).
2. B. Jerome, Rep. Prog. Phys. 54, 391 (1991).
3. T. J. Sluckin and A. Poniewierski, in Fluid Interfacial Phenomena, edited by C. A. Croxton (Wiley, New York, 1986).
4. B. Jerome, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 6, A269 (1994)
5. B. JeromeMol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst. 251, 219 (1994).
6. S. Faetti, M. Gatti, V. Palleschi, and T. J. Sluckin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 55, 1681 (1985).
7. K. Miyano, J. Chem. Phys. 71, 4108 (1979).
8. H. Hsiung, Th. Rasing, and Y. R. Shen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 57, 3065 (1986).
9. W. Chen, L. J. Martinez-Miranda, H. Hsiung, and Y. R. Shen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 62, 1860 (1989).
10. S. D. Evans, H. Allinson, N. Boden, and J. R. Henderson, Faraday Discuss. 104, 37 (1996).
11. R. A. Drawhorn and N. L. Abbott, J. Phys. Chem. 99, 16 511 (1995).
12. A. Ulman, An Introduction to Ultrathin Organic Films: From Langmuir-Blodgett to Self-Assembly (Academic, New York, 1991).
13. A. Ulman, S. D. Evans, Y. Shnidman, R. Sharma, J. E. Eilers, and J. C. Chang, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 113, 1499 (1991).
14. C. D. Bain, J. Evall, and G. M. Whitesides, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 111, 7155 (1989).
15. We have confirmed that this perfluorinated material produces well-defined quasicrystalline surfaces. Atomic force microscope images of the SAM surface show that the molecules pack on a hexagonal lattice, with a lattice constant of 5.3 Å.
16. F. Heslot, A. M. Cazabat, and N. Fraysse, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 1, 5793 (1989).
17. R. M. A. Azzam and N. M. Bashara, Ellipsometry and Polarised Light (North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1989).
18. D. Beaglehole, Physica B & C 100, 163 (1980)
19. J. Lekner, Theory of Reflection (Nijhoff/Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1987).
20. S. D. Evans, H. Allinson, N. Boden, T. M. Flynn, and J. R. Henderson, J. Phys. Chem. B 101, 2143 (1997).
21. G. W. Bradberry, P. S. Vukusic, and J. R. Sambles, J. Chem. Phys. 98, 651 (1993).
22. D. Beaglehole (private communication).
23. J. Lekner, Pure Appl. Opt. 3, 821 (1994).
24. S. N. Jaspeson and S. E. Schnatterly, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 40, 761 (1969).
25. See, for example, D. E. Sullivan and M. M. Telo da Gama, in Fluid Interfacial Phenomena, edited by C. A. Croxton (Wiley, New York, 1986).
26. Notwithstanding these difficulties, we are able to rotate the sample prism, thereby exposing different faces to the ellipsometer beam. For 5CB on a (Formula presented) surface, this experiment yielded a clear shift in the planar anchoring Brewster angle (at (Formula presented), suggesting the presence of biaxial planar alignment.
27. V. K. Gupta, W. J. Miller, C. L. Pike, and N. L. Abbott, Chem. Mater. 8, 1366 (1996)
28. V. K. Gupta and N. L. Abbott, Langmuir 12, 2587 (1996).
29. M. Ruths, S. Steinberg, and J. N. Israelachvili, Langmuir 12, 6637 (1996).
30. G. P. Crawford, R. J. Ondris-Crawford, J. W. Doane, and S. Zumer, Phys. Rev. E 53, 3647 (1996).
31. E. Brezin, B. I. Halperin, and S. Leibler, Phys. Rev. Lett. 50, 1387 (1983)
32. J. R. Henderson, Mol. Phys. 62, 829 (1987)
33. J. R. HendersonPhys. Rev. E 50, 4836 (1994).
34. J. R. Henderson and F. van Swol, Mol. Phys. 56, 1313 (1985).
35. An even closer analogy is the complete wetting of the free surface of 5CB, by homeotropic nematic [J. V. Selinger and D. R. Nelson, Phys. Rev. A 37, 1736 (1988)].
36. F. Affouard, M. Kroger, and S. Hess, Phys. Rev. E 54, 5178 (1996).
37. W. J. Miller and N. L. Abbott, Langmuir 13, 7106 (1997).
38. S. J. Elston and J. R. Sambles, The Optics of Thermotropic Liquid Crystals (Taylor & Francis, London, 1992).