ORDERING AND ORDERING TRANSITIONS IN CONFINED LIQUID CRYSTALS

Abstract

A resurgence of interest in confined liquid crystals has taken place over the past few years because of the availability of well-defined and random-type matrices that can be used to constrain liquid crystalline materials to submicrometer spaces. The main driving force behind many of the studies on confined liquid crystals is their relevance to electrically controllable light-scattering devices. Apart from their electrooptic importance, confined liquid crystals introduce many fascinating surface and finite-size effects which are the subject of this review.