The contrast gain in a guest-host nematic display due to a periodic boundary condition

The mean square tilt angle of a nematic slab with finite anchoring energy and periodic boundary conditions has been theoretically investigated, as a function of the slab geometry and of the reduced extrapolation length. If the anchoring strength is free-surfacelike, the contrast is affected by a loss 10% at room temperature if the ratio between the anchoring pitch and the cell thickness is 0.5.Glossary anchoring pitch - h cell thickness - /h - ( = x/, = y/h) reduced coordinates - (, ) local tilt angle - elastic constant - w_a anchoring energy anisotropy - b=/w _a de Gennes-Kleman extrapolation length - B=b/h reduced extrapolation length - T _NI nematic-isotropic transition temperature - :=(T/T _NI ) – 1 reduced temperature - easy axis direction - _MAX - _± ² mean square tilt angle along the boundary - () absorbance coefficients of the p-dye - r /: dichroic ratio - c contrast - G contrast gain - S order parameter