Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NON-LINEAR MECHANICS
Volume 75, Issue -, Pages 87-91Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijnonlinmec.2015.04.003
Keywords
Geometric frustration; Smectic liquid crystals; Periodic structure
Categories
Funding
- Soft Matter Program of Syracuse University
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The known ground state of ultrathin smectic films confined to the surface of a sphere is described by four +1/2 defects assembled on a great circle and a director which follows geodesic lines. Using a simple perturbative approach we show that for thick smectic films on a sphere with planar anchoring this solution breaks down, distorting the smectic layers. The instability happens when the bend elastic constant exceeds the anchoring strength times the radius of the inner sphere. Above this threshold, the formation of a periodic chevron-like structure, observed experimentally as well, relieves geometric frustration. We quantify the effect of thickness and curvature of smectic shells and provide insight into the wavelength of the observed texture. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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