Rotational relaxation processes in free-standing thin SmC films

A theoretical description of the process of reorientation of the c-director and the tangential component of the velocity vector in a hybrid-oriented SmC film stretched between the rotating inner and rest outer frames has been proposed. Within the framework of the nonlinear generalization of the classical Ericksen-Leslie theory for the case of smectic phases, it has been shown that the magnitude and character of the reorientation of the c-director field and the formation of hydrodynamic flows in SmC films are strongly affected by the curvature and direction of rotation of the inner frame.