Determination of the liquid-crystal surface elastic constant <span class="aps-inline-formula"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><msub><mrow><mi mathvariant="italic">K</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>24</mn></mrow></msub></mrow></math></span>

D. W. Allender; G. P. Crawford; J. W. Doane

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.67.1442

Determination of the liquid-crystal surface elastic constant $K_{24}$

D. W. Allender, G. P. Crawford, and J. W. Doane

Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 1442 – Published 9 September 1991

Abstract

Analysis of the Frank free energy for nematics confined to cylindrical regions indicates that the director pattern is dependent on the surface elastic constant $K_{24}$ if there is weak normal anchoring and escape along the cylinder axis. Using deuterium nuclear-magnetic-resonance techniques on samples of submicrometer-size cavities in Nuclepore membranes, we report the first measurement of $K_{24}$ .