LAYER BUCKLING IN SMECTIC-A-LIQUID CRYSTALS AND 2-DIMENSIONAL STRIPE PHASES

Smetic-A liquid crystals and two-dimensional layered materials are observed to undergo a buckling instability when the system is subjected to dilative strain. In this work, we investigate the properties of the displacement fields for the buckling system that minimize a continuum free energy appropriate for the layered system. The key features observed in experiments are reproduced by the minimal-energy solutions, in particular, a transition from a sinusoidal to a chevron buckling profile and the accompanying increase in the buckling wavelength.