Peculiarity of an Oblique Liquid Crystal Alignment Induced by a Photosensitive Orientant

The distribution of the director of a nematic liquid crystal (NLC) in a cell with photosensitive aligning layers has been studied. It is shown that a doubly degenerate easy orientation axis is induced on the interface between the nematic and orienting surface. It was also found that the degeneracy of the easy axis orientation can be removed by NLC molecules flow during LC cell filling and an oblique liquid crystal orientation is realized.