  Mono-layers of stearic and behenic acids deposited with the Langmuir-Blodgett
technique, were used as aligning films in nematic liquid crystal cells. During
the filling process the liquid crystal adopts a deformed quasi-planar alignment
with splay-bend deformation and preferred orientation along the filling
direction. This state is metastable and transforms with time into homeotropic
once the flow has ceased. The transition is accompanied by formation of
disclination lines which nucleate at the edges of the cell. The lifetime of the
metastable splay-bend state was found to depend on the cell thickness. On
heating, anchoring transition from quasi-homeotropic to degenerate tilted
alignment in form of circular domains takes place near the transition to the
isotropic phase. The anchoring transition is reversible with a small
hysteresis.

Soft Condensed Matter