DEFECT ANNEALING RATE IN MONOLAYERS DISPLAYING A SMECTIC-L PHASE

Previously it has been reported that the annealing of disclinations in monolayers of 22-tricosenoic acid only occurs at a significant rate when the surface pressure is cycled between two values. The cycling makes the defects more mobile, but for practical purposes even this enhanced mobility is an order of magnitude too small. Subsequently the annealing was traced to the fact that the monolayer had undergone a phase transition from smectic-I to smectic-F. A theoretical study of Selinger and Nelson indicates the possibility that the annealing might occur faster in the smectic-L phase, a phase intermediate between smectic-I and smectic-F. Rapid annealing has in fact been observed, although the connection with the smectic-L phase has not yet been proved.