2B13 等方相に成長するスメクティックA相の形態と電界印加に伴う形態変化

抄録

A smectic-A phase grown from an isotropic phase exhibits a rich variety of shapes such as droplets, filaments and several compact domains [1-3]. We have experimentally found that an average radius of hemispherical smectic-A domains formed on a substrate surface is decreased with increasing applied electric field. In this presentation, we report the experimental result of electric-field application to smectic-A domains, and show that this experimental finding can theoretically be explained within the framework of an elastic theory by assuming that the spontaneous curvature is induced by electric-field application.