Correlations between surface and bulk liquid-crystal alignment observed with optical second-harmonic generation

Abstract

With the use of optical second-harmonic generation from liquid-crystal (LC) monolayers adsorbed on rubbed polymer surfaces, a close correlation between the rubbing-induced azimuthal orientation distribution of the LC monolayers and the resulting LC bulk pretilt angle has been observed. A simple model based on epitaxial growth of the bulk LC on top of the first LC monolayer is proposed to explain this correlation.