Equilibrium confocal textures in a smectic--A cell (Q1901518)

Summary: We study the textures of smectic-\(A\) liquid crystals consisting of curved, but strictly equidistant lamellae. Assuming translational symmetry, we can generate them from a single curve. The free energy is a nontrivial functional of it. We learn how to derive the equilibrium equation for this curve, when the texture is confined between two parallel plates, which exert a weak anchoring on the orientation of the lamellae, but do not interfere directly with their position. Finally, we describe an instability that may arise in the cell when the anchoring conditions on two plates are antagonistic.