Surface-induced molecular tilt above the smectic-A-smectic-C phase transition in a nonchiral liquid crystal -: art. no. 031701

A polyimide-coated substrate was rubbed in such a way as to possess two competing easy axes for liquid crystal alignment. On cooling a homeotropically aligned liquid crystal through the smectic-A phase toward the smectic-C phase transition, an increasing tilt of the molecules relative to the layer normal was observed. The tilt was localized to within a smectic-C correlation length of the interface, and was found to increase monotonically with the rubbing strength associated with the preparation of the polyimide surface. The results are discussed in light of the dual easy axis model [T. Shioda , Phys. Rev. E 67, 041706 (2003)], and suggest that the two easy axes are not mutually orthogonal.