Nematic Structures under Conical Anchoring at Various Director Tilt Angles Specified by Polymethacrylate Compositions

Abstract

Dependence of the director tilt angle of nematic liquid crystal (LC) under conical anchoring from the two-component polymer mixture composition has been studied. We varied the ratio of poly(isobutyl methacrylate) (PiBMA), which specifies a conical anchoring for the nematic liquid crystal LN-396, and poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) assigning a tangential alignment for the same nematic. An oblique incidence light technique to determine a tilt angle has been used. It has been shown that the tilt angle increases from 0∘ to 47.7∘ when PiBMA:PMMA ratio changes in the range 30:70 to 100:0. The specific optical textures viewed under the polarizing microscope and proper orientational structures have been considered for various compositions of the polymer films. An electric field action on the formed orientational structures has been investigated. The obtained results are promising for the application in various electro-optical LC devices with a conical anchoring in which the director tilt angle is a crucial parameter: a controlled diffraction gratings, an electrically operated achromatic rotators of linear light polarization, etc.