A Tool to Control the Nematic Surface Alignment: Anchoring Competition

The problem to obtain a suitable surface texture for a nematic liquid crystal is dealt by means of the fine control of the anchoring properties or independent surface aligning attractors. This approch allows to obtain monostable oblique and planar surface directors and even bistable anchoring conditions. Both cases of azimuthal and zenithal anchorings are considered. Experimental observations are made using composite surfaces with thin superposed different aligning layers. Phenomenological models are used to describe the experimental results and to suggest new applications of this point of view. that can be easily extended to all mesomorphic materials.