Fera A, Dolbnya IP, Opitz R, Ostrovskii BI, de Jeu WH. Crystalline smectic-B films as fluctuating systems: static and dynamic x-ray scattering.
PHYSICAL REVIEW. E, STATISTICAL, NONLINEAR, AND SOFT MATTER PHYSICS 2001;
63:020601. [PMID:
11308460 DOI:
10.1103/physreve.63.020601]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2000] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Static and dynamic x-ray scattering has been used to characterize thermal fluctuations in free-standing smectic films in the crystalline-B phase. The results are remarkably similar to those in smectic-A films, in spite of the three-dimensional positional order in the crystalline-B phase. The main difference is the disappearance of the characteristic Landau-Peierls instability of the smectic-A phase. The dynamic nature of the fluctuations is explicitly demonstrated by x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy. This fluctuation behavior of crystalline-B films can be attributed to the small value of the shear elastic constant C44.
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