![Introduction Introduction](/3636494/header_image-1599470304.jpg?t=eyJ3aWR0aCI6ODQ4LCJmaWxlX2V4dGVuc2lvbiI6ImpwZyIsIm9ial9pZCI6MzYzNjQ5NH0%3D--775b5a1a8cae514a12f65b887b2c37e68330ed86)
Introduction
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![original](/3205440/original-1518437626.jpg?t=eyJ3aWR0aCI6MjQ2LCJvYmpfaWQiOjMyMDU0NDB9--d377845ab5886b7542168b3018d434021e7a4981)
![Fig. 1: Schematic drawings of the smectic (left), nematic (middle), and isotropic (right) state](/3205449/original-1518437627.jpg?t=eyJ3aWR0aCI6MjQ2LCJvYmpfaWQiOjMyMDU0NDl9--d39d20d2e03238416e7bd2d9fec4e6beacc2e9d1)
Fig. 1: Schematic drawings of the smectic (left), nematic (middle), and isotropic (right) state
![Fig. 2: Temperature dependence of the ellipticity coefficient ρ of the free surface of a liquid crystal illustrating a possible logarithmic divergence of the thickness of a layer-by-layer growing smectic surface phase; TAIdesignates the temperature of the smectic-A − isotropic bulk transition. Each step corresponds to the formation a molecular smectic layer at the surface. [R. Lucht, Ch. Bahr, G. Heppke, J. Phys. Chem. B 102, 6861 (1998)].](/3205458/original-1518437627.jpg?t=eyJ3aWR0aCI6MjQ2LCJvYmpfaWQiOjMyMDU0NTh9--c0a09d53f7311d966ef61b5389087ca63e075af4)
Fig. 2: Temperature dependence of the ellipticity coefficient ρ of the free surface of a liquid crystal illustrating a possible logarithmic divergence of the thickness of a layer-by-layer growing smectic surface phase; TAIdesignates the temperature of the smectic-A − isotropic bulk transition. Each step corresponds to the formation a molecular smectic layer at the surface. [R. Lucht, Ch. Bahr, G. Heppke, J. Phys. Chem. B 102, 6861 (1998)].
![Fig. 3: AFM image of smectic-A layers spreading on a silicon wafer. The area is about 10 x 10 μm2, the height of the three layer steps amounts to 3 nm which corresponds to the smectic layer thickness of the compound under investigation (8CB).](/3205467/original-1518437627.jpg?t=eyJ3aWR0aCI6MjQ2LCJvYmpfaWQiOjMyMDU0Njd9--c9e99ebb5aa00e8dbd1bdb8b8e7516409e8eaaf0)
Fig. 3: AFM image of smectic-A layers spreading on a silicon wafer. The area is about 10 x 10 μm2, the height of the three layer steps amounts to 3 nm which corresponds to the smectic layer thickness of the compound under investigation (8CB).