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The role of surface fields in determining a local order parameter in the vicinity of the liquid crystal-vapour interface is determined, and an expression is obtained for its spatial variation in regions of molecular anisotropy. The consequences of differences between the bulk and surface order parameters are investigated, and are found to be responsible for a wide variety of phenomena related to the surface tension and entropy of liquid crystal systems.
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Clive A. Croxton (1980) studied this question.
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