Discontinuous structural transition in a thin hybrid liquid crystal film

We show, by Monte Carlo simulation of the hard Gaussian overlap model. that the structure of a molecularly-thin liquid crystal film subject to hybrid anchoring conditions can change discontinuously if the anchoring coefficients at the two walls are made sufficiently different. We discuss our finding in the context of equivalent simulations of systems with symmetrical anchoring conditions and of recent theoretical work on pseudo-Casimir forces in hybrid liquid crystal films. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.