The periodic stripe structure is a spectacular consequence
of the confined nature of the film. It is a result of the competition
between elastic inner forces and surface anchoring forces. The
surface anchoring forces want to align the liquid crystals parallel
to the bottom surface and perpendicular to the top surface of
the film. The elatic forces work against the resulting "vertical"
distortions of the director field. When the film is sufficiently
thin, the lowest energy state is surprisingly achived by
"horizontal" director deformations in the plane of the
film. The distortions might be in the form of 1-dimensional or
2-dimensional periodic patterns.
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Thin nematic layer with 1-dimension periodicity.
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