QUANTITATIVE-ANALYSIS OF BREWSTER-ANGLE MICROSCOPE IMAGES OF TILT ORDER IN LANGMUIR MONOLAYER DOMAINS

We describe an attempt at the quantitative evaluation by Brewster-angl e microscopy of the molecular tilt azimuth in domains of two condensed phases of Langmuir monolayers of methyl eicosanoate. The domains, whi ch are surrounded by the isotropic Liquid-expanded phase, contain star defects in which there is an ordering of the tilt azimuth into six pi e-shaped regions. The presence of this high symmetry allows the orient ation to be determined. In one phase the molecules are tilted toward t he domain boundary (splay texture) and in the other tilt is parallel t o the boundary (bend texture). The relation between the change in text ure and recent diffraction studies on esters is examined.