Phase transitions and soft elasticity of smectic elastomers

Abstract

Smectic-C elastomers can be prepared by crosslinking, e.g., liquid crystal polymers, in the smectic-A phase followed by a cooling through the smectic-A to smectic-C phase transition. This transition from $D_{\infty h}$ to $C_{2h}$ symmetry spontaneously breaks rotational symmetry in the smectic plane as does the transition from a smectic-A to a biaxial smectic phase with $D_{2h}$ symmetry. We study these transitions and the emergent elasticity of the smectic-C and biaxial phases in three related models and show that these phases exhibit soft elasticity analogous to that of nematic elastomers.