Faceting and stability of smectic A droplets on a solid substrate |
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Authors: | P Oswald L Lejček |
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Institution: | (1) Laboratoire de Physique, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 69364 Lyon cedex 07, France;(2) Institute of Physics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 21 Prague 8, Czech Republic |
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Abstract: | It is shown that a smectic A droplet deposited on a solid substrate treated for strong homeotropic anchoring is faceted at
the top in spite of the fact that there are no steps at the free surface, but instead edge dislocations in the bulk. The radius
of the facet and the full profile of the curved part of the droplet are determined as a function of the temperature in the
vicinity of a nematic-smectic A phase transition. It is shown that the observed profiles do not correspond to the actual equilibrium
shape, but to metastable configurations close to their point of marginal stability. In addition, we predict that the profiles
must be different for a given temperature depending on whether the droplet has been heated or cooled down to reach this temperature.
Finally, we discuss the problem of the formation of giant dislocations in big droplets (Grandjean terraces). |
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Keywords: | 68 03 Cd Surface tension and related phenomena 61 30 Hn Surface phenomena: alignment anchoring anchoring transitions surface-induced layering surface-induced ordering wetting prewetting transitions and wetting transitions 61 30 Jf Defects in liquid crystals |
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