Abstract
We have performed the numerical simulation of liquid crystalline molecular orientation field between eccentric cylinders. The liquid crystal is confined between the outer and the inner cylinders on which a homeotropic anchoring layer is treated. While the radial molecular orientation field is obtained for the case that the centers of the inner and the outer cylinders are coincident, the field is distorted for the case that the centers are deviated, causing the force on the inner cylinder toward the center of the outer cylinder. The force increases with the increase of the deviation, and is found to be of tens of nN. Finally, we propose the novel force sensor utilizing the relation between the force and the distortion of the molecular orientation field of the liquid crystal.
