Abstract
We consider the shear flow of well-aligned one-component smectic phases, such as thermotropic smectics and lamellar diblock copolymers, below the critical region. We show that, as a result of thermal fluctuations of the layers, parallel alignment is generically unstable and perpendicular alignment is stable against long-wavelength undulations. We also find, surprisingly, that both and alignments are stable for a narrow window of values for the anisotropic viscosity.
- Received 21 October 1994
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.74.1775
©1995 American Physical Society