{"paper":{"title":"The Biaxial Smectic-A* Phase -- A New Phase, Already But Unknowingly Discovered?","license":"http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/","headline":"","cross_cats":[],"primary_cat":"cond-mat.soft","authors_text":"Karl Saunders","submitted_at":"2011-10-19T21:28:01Z","abstract_excerpt":"The biaxial smectic-A* (Sm-A_B*) phase, appearing in the phase sequence Sm-A*--Sm-A*_B--Sm-C*, is analyzed using Landau theory. It is found to possess a helical superstructure with a pitch that is significantly shorter than the pitch of the Sm-C* helical superstructure. The Sm-A_B*--Sm-C* transition can be either 1st or 2nd order, and correspondingly there will be either a jump or continuous variation in the pitch. The behaviors of the birefringence and electroclinic effect are analyzed and found to be similar to those of a Sm-C*_alpha phase. As such, it is possible that the Sm-A_B* phase coul"},"claims":{"count":0,"items":[],"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"source":{"id":"1110.4407","kind":"arxiv","version":1},"verdict":{"id":null,"model_set":{},"created_at":null,"strongest_claim":"","one_line_summary":"","pipeline_version":null,"weakest_assumption":"","pith_extraction_headline":""},"references":{"count":0,"sample":[],"resolved_work":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}