Abstract
Freely suspended films of nonchiral liquid crystal in the smectic- $C$ phase are subjected to an electric field parallel to the smectic layers. This field induces a twist in the uniformly synclinic director, fracturing the tilt orientation field above a well-defined threshold to produce a state in the film with a single anticlinic layer interface between two sets of layers with opposite molecular tilt directions. This fractured state is metastable, indicating the presence of an anticlinic well in the potential governing the relative orientation of molecular tilt in adjacent smectic- $C$ layers.
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