Line tension of nematic pancakes at the air-water interface: Static and dynamic measurements

The line tension of nematic Langmuir films on water is investigated using the 6CB member of the cyanobiphenyl liquid-crystals series. Both static and dynamic measurements are performed independently. The line tension increases linearly with film thickness up to 0.2 μm. The increment of line tension...

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Published inEurophysics letters Vol. 83; no. 6; pp. 66004 - 66004(5)
Main Authors Delabre, U, Richard, C, Meunier, J, Cazabat, A.-M
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published IOP Publishing 01.09.2008
EDP Sciences
European Physical Society / EDP Sciences / Società Italiana di Fisica / IOP Publishing
Subjects
47.57.-s
61.30.-v
68.18.-g
Physics
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Summary:The line tension of nematic Langmuir films on water is investigated using the 6CB member of the cyanobiphenyl liquid-crystals series. Both static and dynamic measurements are performed independently. The line tension increases linearly with film thickness up to 0.2 μm. The increment of line tension is significantly smaller than for the smectic 8CB compound, due to the difference in the allowed elastic deformations of smectic and nematic films. A simple model of the nematic edge accounts both for the linear dependence and the order of magnitude of the line tension. Moreover, it sheds new light on the structure of thin nematic films on liquid substrates.
Bibliography:istex:FF65C8933628E2EB2F45C1315847EFBB177C8952
publisher-ID:epl11221
ark:/67375/80W-L3KXJQMM-6
ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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content type line 23
ISSN:0295-5075
1286-4854
DOI:10.1209/0295-5075/83/66004