Landau theory of wall-induced phase nucleation and pretransitional birefringence at the isotropic-nematic transition

Abstract
The Landau-deGennes theory is used to study the isotropic-nematic phase transition of a semi-infinite system having a wall which induces local nematic order. Analytic solutions are obtained and it is found that (1) for sufficient surface order, the briefringence-induced optical phase shift diverges at the transition rather than at the supercooling limit, and (2) the regions of superheating and supercooling are severely restricted.