TRANSITION TO RIPPLE PHASES IN HYDRATED AMPHIPHILES

We show that dipolar interactions between amphiphilic bilayers lead to a ripple phase. The ripple wave number undergoes a jump at a critical amphiphilic concentration. Quantitative and qualitative agreements wi th experiments are obtained. We present a general argument on the ripp le asymmetry based on a spontaneous parity breaking, while the system is structurally symmetric (no molecular chirality, etc.). On the gener al ground we have discovered that anisotropic interactions between lin es, surfaces, etc., lead generically to instabilities. This confers to this work an impact going beyond the physical system under considerat ion.