Abstract
Abstract— The photoaligning properties of the popular photoaligning material polyvinyl-4(fluorocinnamate) (PVCN-F) are presented. The aligning quality and azimuthal and zenithal anchoring energy were measured and the drift of the easy orientation axis (gliding effect) on the PVCN-F surface, depending on UV exposure, was studied. Special attention is paid to unraveling the contribution of the adsorption liquid-crystal molecules onto the aligning surface to the anchoring properties of PVCNF and measuring the drift of the easy orientation axis over the PVCN-F surface. It is shown that a relatively weak azimuthal anchoring energy (Waz ∼ 10−7 − 10−5 J/m2) leads to strong drift of the easy axis in the azimuthal plane that was observed in a moderate (∼0.1–0.3 T) magnetic field. A much stronger polar anchoring (Wzen ∼ 10−4 J/m2) allowed us to observe the essential gliding of the easy axis in the zenithal plane in a rather strong electric field (∼5 V/μm).