Mechanism for the formation of bubble domains

Abstract

The mechanism for the formation and stabilization of acoustic bubble domains is investigated experimentally within the framework of the Akahane and Tako model which is based on the assumption of the formation of a system of defects in the layer of a cholestric liquid crystal, these defects pin the bubble domains. The theory takes no account of the interaction between bubble domains, this being valid in the case of a low density of domain packing. The correlation between the experimental results and theory is quite satisfactory, especially in the region of d/P ₀ < 1.5 where the bubble domain packing density is very low (where d is the thickness of the cholestric layer and P ₀ is the pitch of the helix).