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Anomalous Behavior of Helicoidal Pitch in Surface Induced Transition from Winding of Unwinding Chiral Smectic C

1983; Institute of Physics; Volume: 22; Issue: 8A Linguagem: Inglês

10.1143/jjap.22.l488

1347-4065

Shoichi Kai, Masahiko Nakagawa, Yasushi Narushige, Masahide Imasaki,

Photonic Crystals and Applications

We have studied the thickness dependence of helicoidal pitch in order to understand the mechanism of the structural change from winding to unwinding chiral smectic C phase. The pitch and critical thickness were measured for various temperatures using wedge type cells with the wedge angle varied from 0.06 to 0.21°C. Thickness and temperature dependence of the pitch have divergent tendencies toward certain respective thicknesses and temperatures. It is considered that the unwinding phase in the thin cell is not smectic A but chiral smectic C. A surface induced reentrant-like phenomenon similar to that field induced is observed.