Vortex street structure and surface-induced SM C*-SM C transition in ferroelectric liquid crystal

Abstract

The vortex street structure introduced previously by the present author is investigated in chiral smectic C liquid crystal of planar geometry put between two glass plates. One of the vortex streets, located at the outside of the sample, is shown to be originated from the Cesàro's summation of the effects due to a vortex lattice introduced so as to satisfy a boundary condition. A surface-induced Sm C*-Sm C transition is investigated by interpreting the transition as a condensation of vortex-pair in a similar way as the commensurate-incommensurate phase transition, where a condensation of kink takes place.