2012/01/31 by P. E. Kornilovitch, Pavel Kornilovitch
Chemistry · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Anisotropy #Chemistry #Condensed matter physics #Homeotropic alignment #Liquid Crystal Research Advancements #Liquid crystal #Materials science #Molecule #Optics #Physics #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Quantum mechanics #Van der Waals radius #Van der Waals surface #cond-mat.mes-hall #cond-mat.soft #physics.chem-ph #van der Waals force
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0953-8984/25/3/035102
published as J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 25 (2013) 035102 · Published version. Typos in Table 1 corrected
openalex publication_date 2012/12/12 · arxiv created 2018/03/11 · arxiv updated 2018/03/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Van der Waals interactions between flat surfaces in uniaxial anisotropic media are investigated in the nonretarded limit. The main focus is the effect of nonzero tilt between the optical axis and the surface normal on the strength of the van der Waals attraction. General expressions for the van der Waals free energy are derived using the surface mode method and the transfer-matrix formalism. To facilitate numerical calculations a temperature-dependent three-band parameterization of the dielectric tensor of the liquid crystal 5CB is developed. A solid slab immersed in a liquid crystal experiences a van der Waals torque that aligns the surface normal relative to the optical axis of the medium. The preferred orientation is different for different materials. Two solid slabs in close proximity experience a van der Waals attraction that is strongest for homeotropic alignment of the intervening liquid crystal for all the materials studied. The results have implications for the stability of plate-like colloids in liquid crystal hosts.