Smectic membranes are perfect model systems for studying low-dimensional phase
transitions and the associated fluctuations. During the last two decades we have seen …

Ferroelectric liquid crystals have been a major research topic since 30 years. However,
when it comes to liquid crystals, the term “ferroelectric” is strongly ambiguous and frequently …

As their name indicates, liquid crystals simultaneously exhibit some characteristics common
to both ordinary isotropic liquids and solid crystals. This ambivalence is also found in the …

Based on graduate lectures given by the authors, Smectic and Columnar Liquid Crystals:
Concepts and Physical Properties Illustrated by Experiments examines lamellar (smectic) …

Smectic and lamellar liquid crystals are three-dimensional layered structures in which each
layer behaves as a two-dimensional fluid. Because of their reduced dimensionality they …

Calorimetric and optical reflectivity studies on free-standing partially fluorinated liquid-crystal
films have revealed novel melting phenomena. The smectic-A-isotropic transition occurs …

The surface phases of a nematic liquid in the presence of a smooth substrate are studied
using Landau–de Gennes theory. The alignment of the nematic director is restricted to be …

Freely-suspended films of smectic liquid crystals can be regarded as membranes consisting
of a stack of an integral number of molecular (smectic) layers with the layer planes being …

The idea either to reveal or to construct a liquid ferroelectric was never abandoned by
researchers since the discovery of ferroelectricity in solid crystals at the beginning of this …

Using a high resolution optical polarimeter, we have measured the temperature
dependence of the birefringence and optical rotation in chiral smectic liquid crystals that …