Structure and dynamics of a Gay-Berne liquid crystal confined in cylindrical nanopores

Gay-Berne liquid crystals confined in two cylindrical nanopores with different pore sizes were studied by molecular dynamics simulation. Their structure and dynamics properties were obtained and compared with those of the bulk. Our data show that confinement changes the bulk isotropic-to-nematic transition to a continuous ordering from a paranematic to a nematic phase. Moreover, confinement strongly hinders the smectic translational order. The molecular dynamics is characterized by the translational diffusion coefficients and the first-rank reorientational correlation times. Very different characteristic times and temperature variations in the dynamics are observed in confinement. Spatially resolved quantities illustrate that confinement induces predominant structural and dynamical heterogeneities.