Unusual Thickness-Dependent Thermal Behavior and Anticlinic Coupling in Chiral Smectic Free-Standing Liquid-Crystal Films

C. Y. Chao; C. R. Lo; P. J. Wu; Y. H. Liu; D. R. Link; J. E. Maclennan; N. A. Clark; M. Veum; C. C. Huang; J. T. Ho

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.4048

Unusual Thickness-Dependent Thermal Behavior and Anticlinic Coupling in Chiral Smectic Free-Standing Liquid-Crystal Films

C. Y. Chao, C. R. Lo, P. J. Wu, Y. H. Liu, D. R. Link, J. E. Maclennan, N. A. Clark, M. Veum, C. C. Huang, and J. T. Ho

Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 4048 – Published 30 April 2001

Abstract

We observe, in free-standing films of a chiral smectic liquid crystal, a series of discrete transitions in the relative orientation of the tilt of the interior and surface layers. These transitions include a remarkable reentrant synclinic-anticlinic-synclinic ordering sequence of the film surfaces in the presence of an electric field upon cooling. The profiles of the associated heat-capacity anomalies are found to be strongly thickness dependent and exhibit a novel crossover behavior in reduced dimensions. We measure the anticlinic coupling between tilted surface layers in the smectic- $A$ phase.

Received 15 December 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.4048

Authors & Affiliations

C. Y. Chao^1,*, C. R. Lo¹, P. J. Wu¹, Y. H. Liu¹, D. R. Link^2,†, J. E. Maclennan², N. A. Clark², M. Veum³, C. C. Huang⁴, and J. T. Ho⁵

¹Department of Physics and Astronomy, National Central University, Chung-Li 32054, Taiwan, Republic of China
²Condensed Matter Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309
³Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, Stevens Point, Wisconsin 54481
⁴School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
⁵Department of Physics, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14260

^*To whom correspondence should be addressed.Electronic address: cychao@phy.ncu.edu.tw
^†Current address: Department of Organic and Polymeric Materials, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguro-ku, O-okayama 2-12-1, Tokyo 152-8552, Japan.