Double reentrance of surface arrangements in freestanding liquid crystal films.
The molecular arrangement of tilted surface layers on freestanding films above the bulk smectic-A-smectic-C(*) transition has been studied by null transmission ellipsometry. In the presence of an applied in-plane electric field, a synclinic-anticlinic-synclinic-anticlinic double reentrance has been observed. Furthermore, we have characterized a novel transition from the synclinic arrangement to a structure in which the interior layers tilt in the same orientation and the outermost surface layers tilt oppositely with the interior layers.
Han
X F
XF
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.
Wang
S T
ST
Cady
A
A
Radcliffe
M D
MD
Huang
C C
CC