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Chiral Symmetry Breaking and Pattern Formation in Two-Dimensional Films

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

Jonathan V. Selinger ,
Zhen-Gang Wang  and
Robijn F. Bruinsma
Jonathan V. Selinger
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024 Department of Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 Current Address: Center for Bio/Molecular Science and Engineering, Naval Research Laboratory, Code 6900, 4555 Overlook Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20375
Zhen-Gang Wang
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125
Robijn F. Bruinsma
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024
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Abstract

Thin films of organic molecules, such as Langmuir monolayers and freely suspended smectic films, can exhibit a spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry. This chiral symmetry breaking can occur through at least three possible mechanisms: (1) the relation between tilt order and bond-orientational order in a tilted hexatic phase, (2) a special packing of non-chiral molecules on a two-dimensional surface, and (3) phase separation of a racemic mixture. Because the chiral order parameter is coupled to variations in the direction of molecular tilt, chiral symmetry breaking leads to the formation of patterns in the tilt direction with one-dimensional or two-dimensional order. Using a Landau theory, we investigate these patterns and predict the critical behavior near the chiral symmetry breaking transition.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 292: Symposium S – Biomolecular Materials , 1992 , 235
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1993

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