Resonant x-ray diffraction spectrum for possible structures of the smectic liquid crystal phase with a six-layer periodicity

LiDong Pan; R Pindak; C C Huang

doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.89.022501

Resonant x-ray diffraction spectrum for possible structures of the smectic liquid crystal phase with a six-layer periodicity

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2014 Feb;89(2):022501. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.89.022501. Epub 2014 Feb 5.

Authors

LiDong Pan¹, R Pindak², C C Huang³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA.
² Photon Sciences Directorate, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA.
³ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.

PMID: 25353483
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.89.022501

Abstract

With the discovery of the smectic-C(d6)(*) (SmC(d6)(*)) phase showing six-layer periodicity [S. Wang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 027801 (2010)] and a recent report of the observation of a possible alternative structure, the need for a reliable and accurate method for distinguishing different possible structures is more urgent than ever. Through simulations using the tensorial structure factor method, we present the resonant x-ray diffraction (RXRD) spectra for different possible structures as proposed in several theoretical studies. Subtle distinctions between models are shown. The ability and limitations of RXRD as a technique for determining the structure of this particular phase is discussed.