Summary
Optical studies of Langmuir monolayers of simple amphiphiles such as fatty acids and esters by polarized fluorescence microscopy and Brewster-angle microscopy reveal a large variety of textures including stripes, stars, and spirals that closely resemble textures observed in liquid crystals. The textures represent large-scale (>10 μm) spontaneous organization of the molecular tilt azimuth. Phase transitions within the monolayer can be directly observed by marked changes in texture, revealing a complex phase diagram. Many of the textures can be explained by a Landau-deGennes theory of tilted hexatic phases that takes into account the broken-symmetry characteristic of amphiphiles at an interface.
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References
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Knobler, C.M. Ordering in two dimensions: Optical textures in monolayers. Nouv Cim D 16, 1367–1372 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02462021
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02462021