Abstract
Atomic force microscopy is used to study the self-organization processes that occur during the formation of topological defects in nanomolecular layers in a nematic liquid crystal with the homeotropic orientation of its molecules with respect to the substrate. In this case, a smectic monolayer with a thickness of one molecule length (about 2.2 nm) forms on the substrate, and a nanomolecular layer of a nematic liquid crystal forms above this monolayer. In such virtually two-dimensional layers, numerous different nanoclusters, namely, hut structures, pyramids, raft structures with symmetry C nm (where n = 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, …, ∞), cones, and nanopools, form [1]. They have a regular shape close to the geometry of solid crystals. Modulated linear structures and topological point defects appear spontaneously in the nanopools and raft structures.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifshitz, Course of Theoretical Physics, Vol. 5: Statistical Physics (Nauka, Moscow, 1964; Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, 1984), Part 1, pp. 477–478, 542.
J. Nehring and A. Saupe, J. Chem. Soc., Faraday Trans. II 68, 1 (1972).
C. Williams, P. Pieranski, and P. E. Cladis, Phys. Rev. Lett. 29, 30 (1972).
G. Zhu, Phys. Rev. Lett. 49, 1332 (1982).
L. Lin., C.-Q. Shu, J.-L. Shen, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 49, 1335 (1982).
S. Zheng, Z. C. Liand, R. F. Shao, et al., Phys. Rev. A: At., Mol., Opt. Phys. 38, 5941 (1988).
V. G. Kamenskiĭ, Zh. Éksp. Teor. Fiz. 87(4), 1262 (1984) [Sov. Phys. JETP 60 (4), 723 (1984)].
V. G. Kamenskiĭ and S. S. Rozhkov, Zh. Éksp. Teor. Fiz. 89(1), 106 (1985) [Sov. Phys. JETP 62 (1), 60 (1985)].
F. Kh. Abdullaev, A. A. Abdumalikov, and P. K. Khabibullaev, Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 298, 841 (1988) [Sov. Phys. Dokl. 33, 115 (1988)].
F. Kh. Abdullaev, A. A. Abdumalikov, and E. N. Tsoi, Phys. Status Solidi B 146, 457 (1988).
P. de Genes, The Physics of Liquid Crystals (Clarendon, Oxford, 1974; Mir, Moscow, 1977).
A. Rapini and M. J. Papoular, J. Phys., Colloq. 30, 4 (1969).
W. Azzam, Dissertation zur Erlangung des Grades eines Doktors der Naturwissenschaften (Ruhr-Universität, Bochum, 2003), p. 164.
Solver P47 Instruction Manual (NT-MDT, Zelenograd, Moscow region, Russia, 2005) [in Russian].
N. M. Astaf’eva, Usp. Fiz. Nauk 166(11), 1145 (1996) [Phys. Usp. 39 (11), 1085 (1996)].
J. Frohlich and K. Schneider, J. Comput. Phys. 130, 174 (1997).
C. Blatter, Wavelets-Eine Einführung (Vieweg, Braunschweig, 1998; Tekhnosfera, Moscow, 2004) [in German and in Russian].
K. Oura, V. G. Lifshits, A. A. Saranin, A. V. Zotov, and M. Katayama, Surface Science: An Introduction (Springer, Berlin, 2003; Nauka, Moscow, 2006).
Modern Crystallography, Ed. by B. K. Vainshtein, A. A. Chernov, and L. A. Shuvalov (Nauka, Moscow, 1980; Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1981), Vol. 3, p. 36.
I. E. Dzyaloshinskiĭ, E. M. Lifshits, and L. P. Pitaevskiĭ, Zh. Éksp. Teor. Fiz. 37, 229 (1959) [Sov. Phys. JETP 10, 161 (1959)].
Yu. S. Barash, Van der Waals Forces (Nauka, Moscow, 1988), p. 255 [in Russian].
R. B. Meyer, Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst. 16, 355 (1972).
R. Zwanzig, J. Chem. Phys. 39, 1714 (1963).
G. Barbero, A. N. Chuvyrov, and A. P. Krekhov, Int. J. Mod. Phys. B 6, 437 (1991).
N. H. Ibragimov, Transformation Groups Applied to Mathematical Physics (Nauka, Moscow, 1983; Reidel, Dordrecht, 1985), p. 96.
M. Ablowitz and H. Segur, Solitons and the Inverse Scattering Theory (SIAM, Philadelphia, 1981; Mir, Moscow, 1987).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Original Russian Text © A.N. Chuyrov, F.M. Girfanova, I.S. Mal’tsev, 2008, published in Zhurnal Éksperimental’noĭ i Teoreticheskoĭ Fiziki, 2008, Vol. 133, No. 5, pp. 1081–1090.
About this article
Cite this article
Chuvyrov, A.N., Girfanova, F.M. & Mal’tsev, I.S. Self-organization processes and topological defects in nanolayers in a nematic liquid crystal. J. Exp. Theor. Phys. 106, 946–954 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063776108050129
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063776108050129