Dielectric relaxation in liquid crystal confined to cylindrical pores: Effect of different layer thicknesses and boundary conditions

Broadband dielectric spectroscopy was applied to study influence of the boundary conditions and layer thickness of liquid crystal confined to cylindrical pores on low frequency and high frequency relaxation processes. The low frequency measurements provide information on the relaxation of surface polarization that arises at liquid crystal-pore wall interface. The information about reorientational dynamics of molecular origin is obtained in high frequency experiments. The homeotropic alignment of molecules facilitates the investigation of the librational mode. The behavior of this mode is different from the behavior observed in investigations of relaxation due to reorientation of molecules around their short axis.