Evaluation of polar alignment structure and surface anchoring energy in ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals by renormalized transmission spectroscopic ellipsometry

Abstract

It is essential to estimate the surface polar anchoring energy to discuss the interfacial orientation of ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals (FNLCs). In this study, we accurately estimated the twist angle of a π-twist cell with an antiparallel rubbing manner, by means of renormalized transmission spectroscopic ellipsometry, which has a great deal of experience in measuring the twist angle of ordinary nematic liquid crystals. We succeeded in estimating the reduced polar anchoring energy from the essential equation derived from the simplified torque balance equation. It is assumed that the reduced surface polar anchoring energy is on the order of 10^2.