Abstract. The possibility for the existence of a thin free suspended liquid crystal film consisting of a plane central part and a wide meniscus in a certain tempe? rature interval above T_Smc-N is determined. It is supposed that such thin films can exist only in N phase of liquid crystals with local smectic order. A simple Landau-de Gennes theory is presented to explain the observed phenomena. The dynamics of quasicontact angle created between the planar part and the meniscus as a function of temperature is studied. The analogy with "black films" stabilized by the appearance of a disjoining pressure is made.

Full-text: PDF