Instabilities under mechanical tension in a smectic cylinder

Abstract
We discuss theoretically the analog of the Helfrich-Hurault instability for a smectic cylinder (as opposed to the usual case of a flat slab). The smectic layers are initially in a ideal concentric cylinder conformation. It is then assumed that (using for instance a temperature pulse of adequate sign) the layers are put under tension. Then an undulation instability can set in, at a certain optimal wave vector q* parallel to the cylinder axis. We discuss the distortion field at threshold : it is significantly more complex than in the slab problem. The wave vector q* might be revealed in the beaded textures observed by Cladis and White in smectic cylinders of CBOOA

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