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Phys. Rev. E 54, R1048–R1051 (1996)

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

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Samuel S. Mao and John R. de Bruyn
Department of Physics, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's Newfoundland, Canada A1B 3X7

Zahir A. Daya and Stephen W. Morris
Department of Physics and Erindale College, University of Toronto, 60 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A7

Received 27 March 1995; revised 26 March 1996; published in the issue dated August 1996

We have measured the stability boundary for steady electroconvection in thin, freely suspended smectic liquid crystal films. As the voltage across the film, or the film length, is varied, convective vortices are created or destroyed at the ends of the film to keep the pattern wave number within a stable range. The measured stability boundary lies substantially inside the Eckhaus boundary for this system. Our results are consistent with a mechanism for boundary-induced wavelength selection proposed by Cross et al. [ Phys. Rev. Lett. 45 898 (1980)].

© 1996 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.54.R1048
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevE.54.R1048
PACS:
47.20.-k, 47.54.+r
 
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