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VOLUME 64 (1996) | ISSUE 1 | PAGE 29
Length scale dependence of chiral symmetry breaking in free-standing films of achiral smectic С
The textures of a smectic С phase in free-standing films of the SchifT base 50.6 are studied as a function of the number of layers and temperature. Periodic stripes with alternating contrast are observed in SmA boundary layers. On further cooling a transition to the splay stripes occurs in the smectic A temperature interval. In the smectic С phase all the periodic textures disappear, whereas in films with one free boundary a periodic arrangement of splay stripes is found. Mechanisms of symmetry breaking are discussed. PACS 64.70.Md, 68.15.-fe