title: Different mechanisms of nucleation and self-organization of droplets in ferroelectric smectic membranes.
abstract: New mechanisms of droplet nucleation and self-organization in ferroelectric membranes are described. The droplets may be accompanied by different number of topological defects (zero, one, two) whose location may be on the droplet boundary or in the membrane. Nucleation and self-organization of droplets with total topological charge S = 0 , S = + 1 and S = - 1 were investigated. We found that an S = - 1 topological defect may be the center of both droplet nucleation and chain formation. This mechanism of chaining drastically differs from the droplet self-organization described earlier which is realized by attraction of droplet-defect pairs. Our observations demonstrate new possibilities for manipulating the inclusions and their self-organization in smectic membranes.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Solid State Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142432, Chernogolovka, Moscow district, Russia. pauldol@issp.ac.ru
authors.forename: P V
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: Dolganov
authors.forename: H T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Joly
authors.forename: V K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Dolganov
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cluzeau
mesh_terms: D017097:Electric Impedance; D004563:Electrochemistry; D007501:Iron / Q000737:chemistry*; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D008956:Models, Chemical; D010316:Particle Size; D012996:Solutions / Q000737:chemistry*; D012997:Solvents / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D012996:Solutions; D012997:Solvents; D007501:Iron