Definition of smectic in English:
smectic
adjectiveˈsmɛktɪkˈsmektik
Denoting or involving a state of a liquid crystal in which the molecules are oriented in parallel and arranged in well-defined planes.
Compare with nematic
Example sentencesExamples
- From our measurements of fluctuations, we obtain the product of the bilayer bending modulus K C and the smectic compression modulus B.
- Hydrated phospholipids themselves are liquid-crystals, and in these multiple respects, their behavior resembles that of at least some other compounds that form smectic bulk phases.
- Molecules in the smectic phase have orientational as well as a small amount of positional order.
- A liquid crystal device is constituted by a chiral smectic liquid crystal to form a plurality of pixels.
- Our results suggest that of the multiple structures which different monolayers form when supercompressed, pulmonary surfactant collapses by the same mechanism as other compounds that form smectic liquid-crystal bulk phases.
nounˈsmɛktɪkˈsmektik
A smectic substance.
Example sentencesExamples
- We outline the possible experimental significance of our findings for the rheology of both aligned and polydomain smectics.
- The winner, in a 1998 Physical Review Letters article co-authored with his wife Dr Mirjana Golubovic, has identified this phase as the very first realization of a new state of matter: the sliding phase of weakly coupled two-dimensional smectics of DNA molecules sandwiched between lipid membranes, that themselves form a layered three-dimensional lamellar phase.
- We find that the quantum smectics are rather different from the usual classical smectics in that the density correlations along the direction of the stripes manifest a Bragg-Glass type behaviour whereas those in the transverse direction are infra-red divergent.
- I am using the hydrodynamic equations for smectics A to predict the results of these experiments, which are being performed by a colleague, Professor Stephen Kevan.
- There also exists higher order smectics which form layers with positional ordering within the layers.
Origin
Late 17th century: via Latin from Greek smēktikos ‘cleansing’ (because of the soaplike consistency).