Isotropic-nematic interface of liquid-crystalline polymers

Abstract

The behavior of liquid crystalline polymers in the interfacial region between the isotropic and nematic phases is investigated based on an inhomogeneous free-energy functional. A mean-field approximation is used for the system of semiflexible polymers obeying the Saito-Takahashi-Yunoki description and interacting via the Onsager-type repulsive interaction. The density distribution of the polymers crossing the interface is computed by using a spherical-harmonics expansion. The calculated interfacial tension is consistent with the results of the scaling argument which is also presented in this paper.