# Grain Boundary Structure: a Signature of Phasons in Incommensurate Smectics

Ramaswamy, Sriram and Toner, John (1991) Grain Boundary Structure: a Signature of Phasons in Incommensurate Smectics. In: Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 15 (2). pp. 275-277.

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Official URL: http://iopscience.iop.org/0295-5075/15/2/013

## Abstract

The authors consider a tilt grain-boundary with small angle \theta in an incommensurate smectic $A_{ic}$ liquid crystal with ordering wavenumbers $q_1, q_2$ and sample thickness h in the direction normal to the layers. For $q_1 \theta h \ll 1$, a limit well within the reach of experiment, they find that the dislocation array which forms such a boundary has a spacing $D \sim h^{1/5} \theta^{-4/5}$. This prediction, which is qualitatively different from that obtained for periodic smectics by Nallet and Prost, should serve as a decisive test for the existence of phasons and hence for the truly incommensurate nature of these systems.

Item Type: Journal Article Copyright of this article belongs to Institute of Physics (IOP). Division of Physical & Mathematical Sciences > Centre for Theoretical StudiesDivision of Physical & Mathematical Sciences > Physics 23 Oct 2007 16 Nov 2010 10:39 http://eprints.iisc.ernet.in/id/eprint/11411