title: Effect of enantiomeric excess on surface structures and phase sequences in free-standing liquid-crystal films.
abstract: We present differential optical reflectivity and null transmission ellipsometry data from several mixtures of MHPBC enantiomers. From this data, we have determined the chiral smectic phase sequence as a function of enantiomeric excess. The data suggest a change in the structure of the smectic-C(*)(alpha) phase and the surface tilt state as the enantiomeric excess is reduced. The results also show that the intermediate phases, smectic C(*)(FI2), smectic C(*)(FI1), and smectic C(*)(alpha), disappear sequentially on reducing the net chirality.
authors.affiliation: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cady
authors.forename: Z Q
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: X F
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: S T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Veum
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Janarthanan
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Olson
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Huang