  Polymer systems in slab geometries are studied on the basis of the recently
presented Gaussian Ellipsoid Model [J. Chem. Phys. 114, 7655 (2001)].The
potential of the confining walls has an exponential shape. For homogeneous
systems in thermodynamic equilibrium we discuss density, orientation and
deformation profiles of the polymers close to the walls. For strongly
segregated mixtures of polymer components A and B equilibrium profiles are
studied near a planar interface separating A and B rich regions. Spinodal
decomposition processes of the mixtures in the presence of neutral walls show
upon strong confinement an increase of the lateral size of A and B rich domains
and a slowing down of the demixing kinetics. These findings are in agreement
with predictions from time dependent Ginzburg--Landau theory. In the case,
where one wall periodically favors one of the two mixture components over the
other, different equilibrium structures emerge and lead to different kinetic
pathways of spinodal decomposition processes in such systems.
