Abstract
The formation of closed-compact multilamellar vesicles (referred to in the literature as the “onion texture”) obtained upon shearing lamellar phases is studied using small-angle light scattering and cross-polarized microscopy. By varying the shear rate , the gap cell , and the smectic distance , we show that: (i) the formation of this structure occurs homogeneously in the cell at a well-defined wave vector , via a strain-controlled process, and (ii) the value of varies as . These results strongly suggest that formation of multilamellar vesicles may be monitored by an undulation (buckling) instability of the membranes, as expected from theory.
- Received 18 January 2002
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.148305
©2002 American Physical Society