DOI: 10.1051/jp2:1992248
J. Phys. II France 2 (1992) 2011-2024

Anchoring energy and easy direction of non uniform surfaces

G. Barbero¹, T. Beica², A.L. Alexe-Ionescu³ and R. Moldovan<sup>2

1</sup>  Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy
²  Institute of Physics and Technology of Materials, CP MG 7 Bucharest, Rumania
³  Politechnical Institute of Bucharest, Department of Physics, Splaiul Independentei, 313, 77216 Bucharest, Rumania

(Received 9 June 1992, accepted in final form 4 August 1992)

Abstract
The effect of a periodic distribution of easy directions on the surface macroscopic properties of nematic samples are considered. Our analysis shows that the effective surface energy of the sample contains an interference term coming from the two different easy axis. This allows to introduce an effective uniform easy direction, depending on the two easy directions and containing an interference term too, as suggested a few years ago by some researchers.

PACS
61.30

© Les Editions de Physique 1992