PASSAGES IN LAMELLAR PHASES OF HIGHLY-CHARGED FLUID MEMBRANES

The free energy is calculated of a single passage defect in a lamellar phase of highly charged fluid membranes. The limit is considered in which the curvature energy of the membranes and the curvature energy of the surrounding electric double layers dominate. It is found that in the regime 10 less than or equal to chi D less than or equal to 60, with D the distance between the membranes in the lamellar phase and chi(-1) a length scale of the order of the Debye length, the free energy of a passage decreases rapidly with dilution. (C) 1995 American Institute of Physics.