Smectic Shells

Teresa Lopez-Leon (1) , Alberto Fernandez-Nieves (2) , Maurizio Nobili (1) , Christophe Blanc (1)

1 L2C - Laboratoire Charles Coulomb
2 Georgia Institute of Technology [Atlanta]

Confining a smectic liquid crystal between two spherical surfaces results in the formation of a complex defect structure characterized by a set of curvature walls that divide the sphere into crescent domains, causing the undulation of the smectic layers. In this paper, we examine in detail these smectic textures and discuss the various possible origins of the observed patterns.

Mots clés: Emulsion; Liquid crystals

Domaines: Matière Molle [cond-mat.soft]

Teresa Lopez-Leon, Alberto Fernandez-Nieves, Maurizio Nobili, Christophe Blanc. Smectic Shells. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 2012, 24, pp.284122. ⟨10.1088/0953-8984/24/28/284122⟩. ⟨hal-00713321⟩