Thinning transitions in free-standing liquid-crystal films as the successive formation of dislocation loops.
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.
Pankratz
S
S
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.
Johnson
P M
PM
Hołyst
R
R
Huang
C C
CC