Evolution of a rare sequence of surface transitions with temperature and film thickness

• Published in: Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics Vol. 81; no. 3 Pt 1; p. 031712
• Main Authors: McCoy, B K, Pan, LiDong, Liu, Z Q, Wang, S T, Wang, Shun, Goodby, J W, Huang, C C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.03.2010
• Subjects: Computer Simulation; Liquid Crystals - chemistry; Membranes, Artificial; Models, Chemical; Phase Transition; Surface Properties; Temperature

In free-standing smectic films, layers near the surfaces of the film often contain molecules tilted away from the layer normal, while in the bulk of the film the magnitude of the tilt decays exponentially with distance from the surface. We have identified the detailed molecular tilt orientations in...