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A simple model of the nematic liquid crystal-wall interface introduced in our previous paper1 has been extended. The effect of an impenetrable wall has been taken into account by making a gradient expansion with respect to the orientational order parameter profile, resulting in an additional term in the effective surface potential as a function of the order parameter at the wall. Either a first-order or a second-order surface phase transition is possible with the modified surface potential. In addition to the wetting transition found in our previous paper, another wetting transition, in which a layer of the paranematic intrudes between the nematic and the wall, is also possible.
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Poniewierski et al. (1985) studied this question.
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