| Issue |
EPL
Volume 80, Number 1, October 2007
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 16004 | |
| Number of page(s) | 6 | |
| Section | Condensed Matter: Structural, Mechanical and Thermal Properties | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/80/16004 | |
| Published online | 11 September 2007 | |
A bilayer model for the chevron structures in surface-stabilised antiferroelectric liquid crystals
Raman Research Institute - C. V. Raman Avenue, Sadashivanagar, Bangalore 560 080, India
Corresponding author: aroy@rri.res.in
Received:
4
May
2007
Accepted:
17
August
2007
We propose a bilayer model to describe the chevron structures in the surface-stabilized antiferroelectric liquid-crystalline phase or in the anticlinic smectic C (SmCA) phase. We show that i) the chevron structures in the SmCA phase can have three arms as has been observed in some experiments in contrast to the two-arm chevron structures usually found in synclinic smectic C (SmC) phase; ii) surface interactions can stabilize the SmC phase even for compounds which do not exhibit SmC phase in the bulk. For such compounds, we compute the phase diagram in the temperature vs. cell thickness parameter plane and predict a triple point where smectic A phase, SmCA phase and surface-induced SmC phase can coexist.
PACS: 61.30.Cz – Molecular and microscopic models and theories of liquid crystal structure / 61.30.Jf – Defects in liquid crystals / 64.70.Md – Transitions in liquid crystals
© Europhysics Letters Association, 2007
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