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Equilibrium director structures in two thin hybrid planar films of biaxialnematics are investigated through Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations based ona lattice Hamiltonian model within the London dispersion approximation. Whilethe substrates of the two films induce similar anchoring influences on the longaxes of the liquid crystal molecules (viz. planar orientation at one end andperpendicular, or homeotropic, orientations at the other), they differ in theircoupling with the minor axes of the molecules. In Type-A film the substrates donot interact with the minor axes at all (which is experimentally relativelymore amenable), while in Type-B, the orientations of the molecular axes at thesurface layer are influenced as well by their biaxial coupling with thesurface. Both films exhibit expected bending of the director associated withordering of the molecular long axes due to surface anchoring. Simulationresults indicate that the Type-A film hosts stable and noise free directorstructures in the biaxial nematic phase of the LC medium, resulting fromdominant ordering of one of the minor axes in the plane of the substrates. Highdegree of this stable order thus developed could be of practical interest forin-plane switching applications with an external field. Type-B film, on theother hand, experiences competing interactions among the minor axes, due toincompatible anchoring influences at the bounding substrates, apparentlyleading to frustration, and hence to noisy equilibrium director structures.

Applicability of hybrid planar films of biaxial nematics for in-plane switching:A detailed Monte Carlo study