Influence of relief geometry of condensed layers surface on alignment of LCs

The dependencies of a surface topography of the obliquely deposited layers of ceric oxide (CeO2) films and amorphous hydrogenated carbon (a-C:H) on an incident angle of a vapor stream have been studied by electron microscopy. The dependence of the alignment of nematic LCs onto CeO2 layers surface on the relief geometry which correlated with incident angles in interval 60 degree(s) - 85 degree(s) was observed. The surface structure of a-C:H layers depends only substrate surface relief. The smooth surface of a-C:H secures stable parallel alignment nematic LCs independently of incident angles.© (1996) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.