STABILITY AND VIBRATIONS OF CATENOID-SHAPED SMECTIC FILMS

Catenoid-shaped smectic films are spanned between two coaxial circular frames separated by a distance H. It is shown that there exists a cri tical height H such that below it two shapes of the catenoid are poss ible. The stability of these two shapes is analysed in terms of their vibrations. The spectrum of eigenfrequencies is calculated as a functi on of the catenoid height. It is shown that the frequency of the funda mental mode is real for the stable shape and imaginary for the other s hape. Experimental study of vibrational eigenmodes performed on stable SCE4 films confirms this theoretical prediction.