Eur. Phys. J. E 4, 241-251
The confinement of smectics with a strong anchoring
C. Blanc and M. KlemanLaboratoire de Minéralogie-Cristallographie de Paris (UMR7590), T16 case 115, 4 place Jussieu, F-75252 Paris cedex 05, France blanc@lmcp.jussieu.fr
(Received 11 May 2000)
Abstract
We examine several geometric features of the confinement of
lamellar materials in complex geometries. When the anchoring of a
sample at its boundaries (smectic-fluid interfaces or smectic-solid
substrates interfaces) is strong enough, the geometric approximation
of parallel layers can be extended to the bounding surface of the
sample. Depending on the concavity of the interface, a strong planar
anchoring is then compatible (or not) with a smectic organization in
the bulk. We give the simplest smectic organization which satisfies
a planar anchoring everywhere on the interface of axisymmetric
inverse SmA droplets and compute its curvature energy. Eventually,
the reason is given why the textures of direct and inverse SmA
droplets are so much different (as it was first noticed in the
pioneering work on SmA of Friedel and Grandjean).
61.30.Jf - Defects in liquid crystals.
68.10.Cr - Surface energy (surface tension, interface tension, angle of contact, etc.).
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag 2001
