Related papers: Landau theory for smectic-A -- hexatic-B coexisten…
Experimental and theoretical studies of a smectic-hexatic transition in freely suspended films of 54COOBC compound are presented. X-ray investigations revealed a discontinuous first-order transition into the hexatic phase. Moreover, the…
We present detailed systematic studies of structural transformations in thin liquid crystal films with the smectic-C to hexatic phase transition. For the first time all possible structures reported in the literature are observed for one…
The thermodynamic model of ultrathin lubricant film melting, confined between two atomically-flat solid surfaces, is built using the Landau phase transition approach. Non-equilibrium entropy is introduced describing the part of thermal…
We present a rigorous mathematical analysis of a modified Landau-de Gennes (LdG) theory modeling temperature-driven phase transitions between cholesteric, helical smectic, and smectic C* phases. This model couples a tensor-valued order…
We mathematically model Smectic-A (SmA) phases with a modified Landau-de Gennes (mLdG) model. The orientational order of the SmA phase is described by a tensor-order parameter $\mathbf{Q}$, and the positional order is described by a real…
Composed of microscopic layers that stack along one direction while maintaining fluid-like positional disorder within layers, smectics are excellent systems for exploring topology, defects and geometric memory in complex confining…
A theoretical analysis of surface fluctuations of a freely standing thermotropic smectic-A liquid crystal film is provided, including the effects of viscous hydrodynamics. We find two surface dynamic modes (undulation and peristaltic). For…
We formulate a simple Landau type model describing macroscopic behaviour recently discovered new smectic phases composed of achiral bent-shaped molecules. Films of such smectics exhibit three types of ordering related to dipole…
Surface scattering effects in thin films of the superfluid 3He B phase have been theoretically investigated, with an emphasis on the stability of the stripe order with spontaneous broken translational symmetry in the film plane and…
The equilibrium dynamics of a thin film type II superconductor with spherical geometry are investigated numerically in a simulation based on the lowest Landau level approximation to the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation. Both the…
Phase equilibria between regions of different thickness in thin liquid films stabilized by colloidal particles are investigated using a quasi-two-dimensional thermodynamic formalism. Appropriate equilibrium conditions for the film tension,…
We report on X-ray studies of freely suspended hexatic films of three different liquid crystal compounds. By applying angular X-ray cross-correlation analysis (XCCA) to the measured diffraction patterns the parameters of the…
The liquid crystalline compound, forming the glass of the smectic C$_A$* phase, is investigated by the X-ray diffraction in the 18-298 K range. The characteristic distances within the smectic C$_A$* phase are determined. The electron…
We develop a theory for the vortex unbinding transition in homogeneously disordered superconducting films. This theory incorporates the effects of quantum, mesoscopic and thermal fluctuations stemming from length scales ranging from the…
We report results from Monte Carlo simulations of a thin film superconductor in a spherical geometry within the lowest Landau level approximation. We observe the absence of a phase transition to a low temperature vortex solid phase with…
The study of critical phenomena and phase transitions is an important part of modern condensed matter physics. In this regard, the phenomenological Landau theory has been extraordinarily useful. Hereby we present an alternative theoretical…
We study the phase behavior of a symmetric binary polymer blend which is confined into a thin film. The film surfaces interact with the monomers via short range potentials. We calculate the phase behavior within the self-consistent field…
A spherocylinder-like molecule with a Lennard-Jones type interaction is proposed as a model of smectic-A (Sm-A) liquid crystals, which can form a free-standing film. By means of Gibbs ensemble simulations, the isotropic, nematic, and Sm-A…
We develop a Landau theory for bend flexoelectricity in liquid crystals of bent-core molecules. In the nematic phase of the model, the bend flexoelectric coefficient increases as we reduce the temperature toward the nematic to polar phase…
We show that Landau theory for the isotropic, nematic, smectic A, and smectic C phases generically, but not ubiquitously, implies de Vries behavior. I.e., a continuous AC transition can occur with little layer contraction; the birefringence…