title: Highly ordered patterns of parabolic focal conics in lamellar lyotropic systems.
abstract: In this paper, we report the experimental observation of the formation of highly ordered parabolic focal conical patterns in lamellar surfactant solutions. Predominantly, we investigated mixtures of sodium dodecyl sulfate, water, hexanol, and decane, located in the immediate vicinity of the region of the L3 and Lalpha phase coexistence. The experimental studies of the formation of the patterns and of their temporal development are described. We give a simple model picture for the underlying structure, corroborated by the experimental results. There appears to be only one independent length scale that controls the appearance of the whole pattern.
authors.affiliation: Bayreuther Zentrum für Kolloide und Grenzflächen, Physikalische Chemie I, and Theoretische Physik III, Universität Bayreuth, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: Andreas M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Menzel