Effect of cell surfaces on the stability of chiral smectic- C phases

U. Manna, Jang Kun Song, G. Power, J. K. Vij

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

The effect of surfaces on the stability of smectic- C* (Sm C*) variant phases is investigated. The results obtained using dielectric spectroscopy by varying the cell thickness show that the temperature ranges of Sm Cα*, Sm CA* (12), and Sm CA* (13) phases decrease with decreasing cell thickness, and the Sm CA* (13) phase is more stable than the Sm CA* (12) phase. The relative stability of any phase is found to be due to its large polar anchoring strength and low free energy compared to other phases in a cell. Experimental results are found to agree with the theory.

Original languageEnglish
Article number021711
JournalPhysical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics
Volume78
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 27 Aug 2008
Externally publishedYes

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