Structure in a confined smectic liquid crystal with competing surface and sample elasticities
- Materials Department, Materials Research Laboratory, Physics Department, and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Program, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106 (United States)
We report on studies using the x-ray surface forces apparatus (XSFA) to compare the structure of a liquid crystal confined between hard surfaces and, for the first time, between soft surfaces that can deform due to the stresses imposed by the confined fluid. We find that the alignment of smectic domains in confined films depends critically on both the shape and compliance of the confining walls or surfaces: {open_quote}{open_quote}Soft surfaces{close_quote}{close_quote} exhibit a critical gap thickness of 3.4 {mu}m for the liquid crystal studied at which maximum alignment occurs, while {open_quote}{open_quote}hard surfaces{close_quote}{close_quote} do not exhibit gap-dependent alignment. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}
- OSTI ID:
- 284551
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 76, Issue 9; Other Information: PBD: Feb 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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