Observations of cellular and dendritic growth of a smectic-B–smectic-Ainterface

Abstract
We report the first observations of cellular and dendritic growth at the smectic-B–smectic-A interface of the liquid crystal 4O8. Experimentally, 4O8 is seen to be an intermediate case between the solid-liquid and the nematic-isotropic interfaces studied previously. Based on this similarity, we propose a classification of interface behavior based on the latent heat of transition.