Undulations in a confined lamellar system with surface anchoring - art. no. 030501

We visualize undulations in layered systems using a cholesteric stripe phas e with a macroscopic supramicron periodicity. The wave vector of stripe pat tern is in the cell's plane. The-undulation is induced by an in-plane magne tic field normal to the stripes. The observed displacement of layers is muc h larger than the value predicted by the Helfrich-Hurault classic theory. W e propose a model of undulations that explains the data by finite surface a nchoring of layers.