title: Thinning transitions in free-standing liquid-crystal films as the successive formation of dislocation loops.
abstract: We describe a model for the layer-thinning transition in free-standing liquid-crystal films based on the successive, spontaneous formation of dislocation loops. As the film temperature increases and the smectic order and layer compressional modulus decrease, the condition for creating a dislocation loop of critical radius is met and a thinning is nucleated. The resulting equation for N, the number of smectic layers, as a function of temperature yields good fitting results to the thinning transitions obtained from several fluorinated compounds.
authors.affiliation: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pankratz
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hołyst
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Huang