Smectic phases

Smectic phase of the fused hard sphere model.

The work smectic comes from the Greek for soap ($\sigma \mu {\acute {\eta }}\gamma \mu \alpha$). All of the smectic phases are layered, belonging to the $G_{1}^{3}$ symmetry group.

Smectic A phase

In the smectic-A phase each layer is a 2-dimensional liquid, having the symmetry $D_{\infty }$ in the Schoenflies notation.

Smectic C phase

The smectic-C phase has the monoclinic symmetry $C_{\rm {2h}}$.

References

1. Pierre-Gilles De Gennes and J. Prost "Physics of Liquid Crystals" (1995)
2. Jan P. F. Lagerwall and Frank Giesselmann "Current Topics in Smectic Liquid Crystal Research", ChemPhysChem 7 pp. 20-45 (2006)