Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/S59826/01
Title:	Anchoring of liquid crystals on self-assembled monolayers
Principal Investigator:	Evans, Professor S
Other Investigators:	Henderson, Dr JR
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department:	Physics and Astronomy
Organisation:	University of Leeds
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	21 September 2004	Ends:	20 March 2008	Value (£):	109,466
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Materials Characterisation
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Chemicals Electronics
Related Grants:	GR/S59833/01
Panel History:	Panel Date Panel Name Outcome 26 Jun 2003 Joint Photonics Prioritisation Panel (Tech) Jun 03 Deferred
Summary on Grant Application Form
We wish to explore the use of chemically patterned substrates for the sophisticated control of liquid crystal textures. A range of patterned/structured devices will be created by chemically patterning the boundaries using self-assembled monolayers. Evanescent wave spectroscopy and optical microscopy will be used to study the anchoring phenomena of liquid crystal films adsorbed on patterned substrates and within planar pore geometry. The design of these systems will make significant use of our previous experimental characterisation of the basic anchoring phase diagram for standard calamitic liquid crystals (the nCB series) on self-assembled monolayer substrates. The anchoring and defect phenomena will be monitored as a function of pattern wavelength and cell geometry, for a variety of prototype systems (stripes, etc) and devices (twisted-nematic, etc). In addition, the dynamics of interface motion across a patterned substrate will be studied. The entire programme of experimental work will be modelled by computer simulation procedures carried gut by our collaborators at Sheffield Hallam, including simulations of the molecular details of anchoring, the structure of interfaces present in patterned films, and Lattice-Boltzmann modelling of prototype devices. Lessons learnt from simulation in the nano-patterned regime will be investigated experimentally at larger length scales.
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Organisation Website:	http://www.leeds.ac.uk