## Layered Systems Under Shear Flow

This difference leads to a finite angle between $$\hat{n}$$ and $$\hat{p}$$, which we find to be equivalent to an effective dilatation of the layers

Daniel Svenšek

2010

#### Scholarcy highlights

• We discuss and review a generalization of the usual hydrodynamic description of smectic A liquid crystals motivated by the experimentally observed shear-induced destabilization and reorientation of smectic A like systems. We include both the smectic layering) and the director $$\hat{n}$$ of the underlying nematic order in our macroscopic hydrodynamic description and allow both directions to differ in non equilibrium situations
• In a homeotropically aligned sample the nematic director couples to an applied simple shear, whereas the smectic layering stays unchanged. This difference leads to a finite angle between $$\hat{n}$$ and $$\hat{p}$$, which we find to be equivalent to an effective dilatation of the layers
• We include the couplings of the velocity field with the order parameters for orientational and positional order and show how the order parameters interact with the undulation instability
• We discuss pathways to higher instabilities leading to the formation of onions via cylindrical structures and/or the break-up of layers via large amplitude undulations

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