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Surface relaxation of lyotropic lamellar phases

H. Bary-Soroker·H. Diamant
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Abstract

We study the relaxation modes of an interface between a lyotropic lamellar phase and a gas or a simple liquid. The response is found to be qualitatively different from those of both simple liquids and single-component smectic-A liquid crystals. At low rates it is governed by a non-inertial, diffusive mode whose decay rate increases quadratically with wavenumber, $|ω|=Aq^2$. The coefficient $A$ depends on the restoring forces of surface tension, compressibility and bending, while the dissipation is dominated by the so-called slip mechanism, i.e, relative motion of the two components of the phase parallel to the lamellae. This surface mode has a large penetration depth which, for sterically stabilised phases, is of order $(dq^2)^{-1}$, where $d$ is the microscopic lamellar spacing.

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H. Bary-Soroker, H. Diamant. 2006-03-05. Surface relaxation of lyotropic lamellar phases. https://doi.org/10.1209/epl%2Fi2005-10476-4

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