title: Unusual thickness-dependent thermal behavior and anticlinic coupling in chiral smectic free-standing liquid-crystal films.
abstract: We observe, in free-standing films of a chiral smectic liquid crystal, a series of discrete transitions in the relative orientation of the tilt of the interior and surface layers. These transitions include a remarkable reentrant synclinic-anticlinic-synclinic ordering sequence of the film surfaces in the presence of an electric field upon cooling. The profiles of the associated heat-capacity anomalies are found to be strongly thickness dependent and exhibit a novel crossover behavior in reduced dimensions. We measure the anticlinic coupling between tilted surface layers in the smectic- A phase.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, National Central University, Chung-Li 32054, Taiwan, Republic of China. cychao@phy.ncu.edu.tw
authors.forename: C Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chao
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Lo
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Y H
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Link
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Maclennan
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Veum
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Ho