title: Freedericksz transition in an anticlinic liquid crystal
abstract: It is shown experimentally that a very-long-pitch, surface-stabilized, anticlinic liquid crystal undergoes a two-step electric-field-induced transition to the synclinic phase. The liquid crystal remains undistorted below a threshold field E(th). For E>E(th), a Freedericksz transition occurs, wherein molecules in adjacent smectic layers undergo unequal azimuthal rotations about the layer normal. At higher fields a transition to the synclinic phase occurs via solitary waves.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, USA.
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Keast
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Neubert
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rosenblatt