Smectic Membranes in Aqueous Environment
Fig 1: Schematic sketch of a smectic-surfactant composite membrane (left) and thinning of a smectic membrane by heating above the smectic - isotropic transition temperature (right). ΔT gives the temperature difference to the transition, the thinning is demonstrated by changes of the ellipsometric parameters Δ and Ψ (measured in transmission); the numbers near the Δ values indicate the thickness of the membrane (in units of smectic layers).
Fig. 2: Left: Micrographs of the forced electrocoalescence studies (a) Two virtually touching water phases in an isotropic liquid crystal matrix at U = 0. (b) At U = 1 V, a very thin membrane of the liquid-crystal material forms still separating the two water phases. (c) Further increasing the voltage leads to membrane rupture and coalescence of the water phases. Right: Temperature dependence of the voltages Vt (formation of the thin membrane, red triangles) and Vr (rupture of the membrane, blue circles). The yellow shading indicates the region of smectic surface order, ΔT is the temperature difference to the bulk smectic - isotropic transition.