Kink Excitations in Chiral Smectic C Liquid Crystal

Abstract

A kink of tilt angle in the helicoidal Sm C^* structure is investigated. In the vicinity of the Sm C^*-Sm A transition point, such excitation is mathematically the same to that of φ⁴-model of double minimum potential. Both excitations of kink and anti-kink can increase the number of turns in the helicoidal structure and these effects are examined to explain the anomalous temperature-dependence of pitch observed near the Sm C^*-Sm A transition.