Cone, 4-fold symmetric

Also, the optical state (transmission, color) is very often practically the same on both sides of a zigzag wall, as in Fig. 93b. Indeed, if the director lies parallel to the surface (pretilt o =0) at the outer boundaries, the chevron looks exactly the same whether the layers fold to the right or to the left. However, if the boundary condition demands a certain pretilt a 5 0, as in Fig. 105, the two chevron structures are no longer identical. The director distribution across the cell now depends on whether the director at the boundary tilts in the same direction relative to the surface as does the cone axis, or whether the tilt is in the opposite direction. In the first case we say that the chevron has a C1 structure, in the second a C2 structure (see also Fig. 106). We may say that the Cl structure is natural in the sense that if the rubbing direction (r) is the same at both surfaces, so that the pretilt a is symmetrically inwards, the smectic layer has a natural tendency (already in the SmA phase) to fold accordingly. However, if less evident at first sight, the C2 structure is certainly possible, as demonstrated in Figs. 105 and 106. 

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