Boundary-induced wavelength selection in a one-dimensional pattern-forming system

Abstract

We have measured the stability boundary for steady electrically-driven convective flow in thin, freely suspended films of Smectic-A liquid crystal. The thinness and layered structure of the films supress two- and three-dimensional instabilities of the convection pattern. As the voltage applied across the film, or the length of the film, is varied, convective vortices are created or destroyed to keep the wave number of the pattern within a stable range. The range of stable wave numbers increases linearly with the dimensionless control parameter $ε$, for small $ε$, and the vortices always appear and disappear at the ends of the film. These results are consistent with a mechanism for boundary-induced wavelength selection proposed by Cross {\it et al.} [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 45}, 898 (1980)].