相关论文: Landau theory for smectic-A -- hexatic-B coexisten…
We consider the $N$-component Ginzburg-Landau model in the large $N$ limit, the system being embedded in an external constant magnetic field and confined between two parallel planes a distance $L$ apart from one another. On physical…
Thermodynamic theory is developed for the ferroelectric phase transition of an ultrathin film in equilibrium with a chemical environment that supplies ionic species to compensate its surface. Equations of state and free energy expressions…
We use the method of $\Gamma$-convergence to study the behavior of the Landau-de Gennes model for a nematic liquid crystalline film in the limit of vanishing thickness. In this asymptotic regime, surface energy plays a greater role and we…
The hexatic phase predicted by the theories of two-dimensional melting is characterised by the power law decay of the orientational correlations whereas the in-layer bond orientational order in all the hexatic smectic phases observed so far…
We have investigated heteroepitaxial films of Sm-doped BiFeO3 with a Sm-concentration near a morphotropic phase boundary. Our high-resolution synchrotron X-ray diffraction, carried out in a temperature range of 25C to 700C, reveals…
We resolve the old riddle related to the critical behavior of the heat capacity near the smectic A -- hexatic second order phase transition. Experiment suggests a "large" positive specific heat critical exponent inconsistent with the…
Strongly anchored free-standing smectic films usually present a stepwise reduction of the number of layers when the temperature is raised above the smectic-isotropic bulk transition temperature. Here, we demonstrate that a field-induced…
A flux liquid can condense into a smectic crystal in a pure layered superconductor with the magnetic field oriented nearly parallel to the layers. Similar order can arise in low temperature $^4$He films with a highly anisotropic periodic…
We present an x-ray study of freely suspended hexatic films of the liquid crystal 3(10)OBC. Our results reveal spatial inhomogeneities of the bond-orientational (BO) order in the vicinity of the hexatic-smectic phase transition and the…
We study the hydrodynamics of a freely-standing smectic-A film in the isothermal, incompressible limit theoretically by analyzing the linearized hydrodynamic equations of motion with proper boundary conditions. The dynamic properties for…
Addressing the nature of an unexpected smectic-A' phase in liquid crystal 54COOBC films, we perform large scale Monte Carlo simulations of a coupled hexatic-nematic XY model. The resulting finite-temperature phase diagram reveals a small…
Random (disordered) components in the surface anchoring of the smectic-A liquid crystalline film in general modify the thermal pseudo-Casimir interaction. Anchoring disorder of the quenched type is in general decoupled from the thermal…
In this Letter we discuss theoretically the instabilities of thermotropic freely standing smectic-A films under shear flow\cite{re:wu}. We show that, in Couette geometry, the centrifugal force pushes the liquid crystal toward the outer…
A description of phase separation kinetics for solid binary (A,B) mixtures in thin film geometry based on the Kawasaki spin-exchange kinetic Ising model is presented in a discrete lattice molecular field formulation. It is shown that the…
The biaxial smectic-A* (Sm-A_B*) phase, appearing in the phase sequence Sm-A*--Sm-A*_B--Sm-C*, is analyzed using Landau theory. It is found to possess a helical superstructure with a pitch that is significantly shorter than the pitch of the…
Thermoelastic phenomena associated with orientational phase transition in solid C60 are considered. Coupling of the order parameter with elastic strain is analyzed in the Landau theory of phase transitions. Wide range of possible…
In this work we start from the assumption that normal solid to supersolid (NS-SS) phase transition is continuous, and develop a phenomenological Landau theory of the transition in which superfluidity is coupled to the elasticity of the…
Recent experiments report that the long looked for thermotropic biaxial nematic phase has been finally detected in some thermotropic liquid crystalline systems. Inspired by these experimental observations we concentrate on some elementary…
Using optical microscopy, phase shifting interferometry and atomic force microscopy, we demonstrate the existence of undulated structures in the meniscus of ferroelectric smectic-C* films. The meniscus is characterized by a periodic…
We study nematic liquid crystalline films within the framework of the Landau-de Gennes theory in the limit when both the thickness of the film and the nematic correlation length are vanishingly small compared to the lateral extent of the…