Coupled modulated bilayers: a phenomenological model.
We propose a model addressing the coupling mechanism between two spatially modulated monolayers. We obtain the mean-field phase diagrams of coupled bilayers when the two monolayers have the same preferred modulation wavelength. Various combinations of the monolayer modulated phases are obtained and their relative stability is calculated. Due to the coupling, a spatial modulation in one of the monolayers induces a similar periodic structure in the second one. We have also performed numerical simulations for the case when the two monolayers have different modulation wavelengths. Complex patterns may arise from the frustration between the two incommensurate but annealed structures.
Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo 192-0397, Japan.
Yuichi
Y
Hirose
Shigeyuki
S
Komura
David
D
Andelman
D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D044367:Phase Transition; D013816:Thermodynamics
D008051:Lipid Bilayers