New ways to produce and measure low pre-tilt angles

We report upon a new method for producing a homogeneous alignment with a low pre-tilt angle for nematic liquid crystals. This method is significantly simpler to implement than many existing methods, and requires knowledge of only the optical properties of the liquid crystal used. In addition, we have developed a new technique for measuring the pre-tilt angles that is straightforward as well as intuitively appealing. The sensitivity of this method increases as the pre-tilt angle decreases. Results obtained using this method agree satisfactorily with those yielded by traditional techniques.