| Issue |
Europhys. Lett.
Volume 34, Number 5, May II 1996
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 349 - 354 | |
| Section | Condensed matter: structure, thermal and mechanical properties | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i1996-00463-3 | |
| Published online | 01 September 2002 | |
Conventional and non-conventional spreading of a mesogenic material
1
INFM unità di ricerca c/o Dipartimento di Fisica, Università della
Calabria,
Arcavacata di Rende, 87036 Cosenza, Italy
2
Physique de la Matière Condensée, Collège de France,
11 place Marcelin Berthelot
75006 Paris, France
Received:
7
December
1995
Accepted:
25
March
1996
Optical microscopic and ellipsometric studies of the spreading of a mesogenic
compound on a rough substrate are reported on. The smectic wets the surface
and a precursor film grows whose radius R scales like the square root of
time t : 
. The diffusion coefficient decreases
with temperature and vanishes several degrees below the melting
temperature, i.e. the solid phase also "spreads out" through a
precursor film. The effect is analysed in terms of surface-induced
premelting. This is the first report on such an effect in mesogenic
materials.
PACS: 61.30.-v – Liquid crystals / 64.70.Md – Transitions in liquid crystals / 68.45.-v – Solid-fluid interfaces
© EDP Sciences, 1996
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