title: Phase transitions and soft elasticity of smectic elastomers.
abstract: Smectic-C elastomers can be prepared by cross-linking, e.g., liquid crystal polymers, in the smectic-A phase followed by a cooling through the smectic-A to smectic-C phase transition. This transition from D(infinityh) to C(2h) symmetry spontaneously breaks rotational symmetry in the smectic plane as does the transition from a smectic-A to a biaxial smectic phase with D(2h) symmetry. We study these transitions and the emergent elasticity of the smectic-C and biaxial phases in three related models and show that these phases exhibit soft elasticity analogous to that of nematic elastomers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Olaf
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Stenull
authors.forename: T C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Lubensky