Layer Hopping by Chains in Polymeric Smectics?

Abstract

A new, nonperturbative, feature of chain conformations in strongly ordered polymeric smectics is found. Like the solitary hairpin defects in polymeric nematics, these features arise from the confinement of the chain, in our case spatial confinement by the smectic layers as well as the directional restrictions of the nematic. This liquid-crystalline reduction in chain entropy is resisted by layer hopping. Consequent exponential variation of chain dimensions is given by a simple kink argument, in accord with a systematic analysis.