Orientation field fracture in a liquid crystal: Metastable anticlinic molecular tilt in adjacent layers in smectic-C DOBAMBC and TFMHPOBC

Freely suspended films of nonchiral liquid crystal in the smectic-C phase a re subjected to an electric field parallel to the smectic layers. This fiel d induces a twist in the uniformly synclinic director, fracturing the tilt orientation field above a well-defined threshold to produce a state in the film with a single anticlinic layer interface between two sets of layers wi th opposite molecular tilt directions. This fractured stare is metastable, indicating the presence of an anticlinic well in the potential governing th e relative orientation of molecular tilt in adjacent smectic-C layers.