Temperature difference between bulk and surface transition in freely suspended smectic films.
We report an ellipsometric study of freely suspended films of a chiral liquid-crystal compound possessing the phase sequence smectic-C-smectic-A-isotropic with a very broad (67 K) smectic-A phase range. We observe a smectic-C-smectic-A surface transition which is situated more than 60 K above the bulk smectic-C-smectic-A transition temperature. Possible reasons for this unusually large temperature shift are discussed.
Schlauf
D
D
Institute of Physical Chemistry, University Marburg, D-35032 Marburg, Germany.
Bahr
C
C
Glogarová
M
M
Kaspar
M
M
Hamplová
V
V