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arXiv · cond-mat/9701054

Boojums and the Shapes of Domains in Monolayer Films

Jiyu Fang·Ellis Teer·Charles M. Knobler·Kok-Kiong Loh·Joseph Rudnick
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Abstract

Domains in Langmuir monolayers support a texture that is the two-dimensional version of the feature known as a boojum. Such a texture has a quantifiable effect on the shape of the domain with which it is associated. The most noticeable consequence is a cusp-like feature on the domain boundary. We report the results of an experimental and theoretical investigation of the shape of a domain in a Langmuir monolayer. A further aspect of the investigation is the study of the shape of a ``bubble'' of gas-like phase in such a monolayer. This structure supports a texture having the form of an inverse boojum. The distortion of a bubble resulting from this texture is also studied. The correspondence between theory and experiment, while not perfect, indicates that a qualitative understanding of the relationship between textures and domain shapes has been achieved.

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Jiyu Fang, Ellis Teer, Charles M. Knobler, Kok-Kiong Loh, Joseph Rudnick. 1999-03-30. Boojums and the Shapes of Domains in Monolayer Films. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.56.1859

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