Abstract
Boundary effects in liquid-crystalline phases can be large due to long-ranged orientational correlations. We show that the chiral-hexatic phase can be locked into an apparent three-dimensional phase via such effects. Simple numerical estimates suggest that the recently discovered “polymer hexatic” may actually be this locked phase.
- Received 1 April 1999
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.3109
©2000 American Physical Society