Smectic-glass transition in a liquid crystal cell with a "dirty" substrate

Abstract

We explore the smectic liquid crystal order in a cell with a "dirty" substrate imposing random pinnings. Within harmonic elasticity we find a subtle three-dimensional surface disorder-driven transition into a pinned smectic-glass, controlled by a three-dimensional Cardy-Ostlund-like fixed line, akin to a super-rough phase of a two-dimensional xy model. We compute the associated random substrate-driven distortions of the smectic-glass state, identify the characteristic length scales on the heterogeneous substrate and in the bulk, and discuss a variety of experimental signatures.

5 pages, 2 figures, published in Europhysics Letters, with minor typos corrected

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Topological order generated by random field in a 2D exchange model
• Smectic Layering: Landau theory for a complex-tensor order parameter
• Transverse Quantum Fluids
• Exact form of the exponential correlation function in the glassy super-rough phase
• Smectic order, pinning, and phase transition in a smectic liquid crystal cell with a random substrate
• Surface alignment disorder and pseudo-Casimir forces in smectic-A liquid crystalline films