Thin nematic films: anchoring effects and stripe instability revisited

TL;DR

This paper theoretically investigates the formation of stripe patterns in thin nematic films, emphasizing the effects of surface anchoring and elastic terms, and compares findings with experimental data.

Contribution

It extends previous models to hybrid aligned nematics, identifying thresholds for stripe formation and analyzing the influence of azimuthal anchoring and non-planar states.

Findings

Identified upper threshold for stripe formation.

Linked wavelength and amplitude of undulations to azimuthal anchoring.

Analyzed non-planar base states below critical thickness.

Abstract

We study theoretically the formation of long-wavelength instability patterns observed at spreading of nematic droplets on liquid substrates. The role of surface-like elastic terms such as saddle-splay and anchoring in nematic films of submicron thickness is (re)examined by extending our previous work [Manyuhina et al EPL, 92, 16005 (2010)] to hybrid aligned nematics. We identify the upper threshold for the formation of stripes and compare our results with experimental observations. We find that the wavelength and the amplitude of the in-plane director undulations can be related to the small but finite azimuthal anchoring. Within a simplified model we analyse the possibility of non-planar base state below the Barbero-Barberi critical thickness.