title: Devil's staircase-type faceting of a cubic lyotropic liquid crystal
abstract: The faceting of monocrystals of the lyotropic cubic liquid crystals in equilibrium with a humid atmosphere is observed. Experiments reveal the presence of more than 60 different types of facets on the surface of a spherical crystal of radius R = 1 mm. The devil's staircase type of faceting has been predicted theoretically when the interaction between steps on the crystal surface is repulsive.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, Associe au CNRS, Batiment 510, Universite Paris-Sud, 91405, Orsay Cedex, France.
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pieranski
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sotta
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rohe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Imperor-Clerc