Coarse-Grained Surface Energies and Temperature-Induced Anchoring Transitions in Nematic Liquid Crystals

We introduce a coarse-grained description of the surface energy of a nematic liquid crystal. The thermal fluctuations of the nematic director close to the surface renormalize at macroscopic scales the bare surface potential in a temperature-dependent way. The angular dependence of the renormalized potential is dramatically smoothed, thus explaining the success of the Rapini-Papoular form. Close to the isotropic phase, the anchoring energy is strongly suppressed and the change of its shape allows for anchoring transitions. Our theory describes quantitatively the temperature dependence of the anchoring energy and the temperature-induced anchoring transitions reported in the literature.