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Self-organization of droplets in free-standing films

Camilla Völtz and Ralf Stannarius

We investigate free standing smectic films  at the transition from the smectic C
phase to the isotropic phase. In the vicinity of the bulk transition temperatures, isotropic
droplets of micrometer size appear in the film. Such systems represent
convenient models for anisotropic, two-dimensional emulsions.
A characteristic feature of the droplets is their mutual interaction by elastic distortions
of the local orientation of the film, the c-director, which are
related to the anchoring conditions of the c-director at the droplet border.
We analyze the director deformations created by isotropic droplets of different sizes, and their role in the
spontaneous organization of regular droplet patterns.
Depending upon droplet size and anchoring strength, topological defects can be induced in the
c-director field.

Publications

C.Völtz and R.Stannarius, Self-organization of isotropic droplets in smectic C free-standing films, Phys. Rev. E 70, 061702 (2004).

H. Schüring, and R. Stannarius, Isotropic droplets in thin free standing smectic films, Langmuir, 18 9735 (2002).

H. Schüring, C. Thieme, and R. Stannarius, Surface tensions of smectic liquid crystals, Liq. Cryst., 28 241, (2001).

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Last change January 10, 2005. Page written by Camilla Völtz

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