Novel orientation states transitions in liquid crystal induced by microtextured substrates

Substrate induced alignment of liquid crystal is well established for electro-optical applications. In most of these cases it results in strong anchoring of liquid crystal, however, tuning of effective anchoring is well desired. Some of the photopolymers, under exposure to polarized UV light, induces the alignment in adjacent liquid crystals and offers the way to control the alignment on local basis. Here, we show a method of tuning the effective anchoring energy on patterned photopolymer with mixed alignment potential (resulting in planer and tilted orientation) of constant periodicity. The effective anchoring is weak and associated with first order transition of orientation state as a function of temperature. The phenomena observed here might be exploited for application purposes by local heating or by applying an electric field.