Rotational relaxation processes in free-standing thin SmC films

Abstract

A theoretical description of the process of reorientation of the c-director and the tangential component of the velocity vector in a hybrid-oriented SmC film stretched between the rotating inner and rest outer frames has been proposed. Within the framework of the nonlinear generalization of the classical Ericksen–Leslie theory for the case of smectic phases, it has been shown that the magnitude and character of the reorientation of the c-director field and the formation of hydrodynamic flows in SmC films are strongly affected by the curvature and direction of rotation of the inner frame.