2000/08/31 by A. J. McDonald, Andrew J. McDonald, M. P. Allen +3 · 2 citations
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Materials and Mechanics #Liquid Crystal Research Advancements #Material Dynamics and Properties #cond-mat.mtrl-sci #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreve.63.010701
Minor changes; to appear in Phys. Rev. E
openalex publication_date 2000/12/27 · arxiv created 2001/01/11 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We present calculations of the pressure tensor profile in the vicinity of the planar interface between isotropic liquid and nematic liquid crystal, using Onsager's density functional theory and computer simulation. When the liquid crystal director is aligned parallel to the interface, the situation of lowest free energy, there is a large tension on the nematic side of the interface and a small compressive region on the isotropic side. By contrast, for perpendicular alignment, the tension is on the isotropic side. There is excellent agreement between theory and simulation both in the forms of the pressure tensor profiles, and the values of the surface tension.