Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Synthesis and Exfoliation of Discotic Zirconium Phosphates to Obtain Colloidal Liquid Crystals
Published on: May 25, 2016
Highly ordered patterns of parabolic focal conics in lamellar lyotropic systems
Christian Wolf1, Andreas M Menzel
1Bayreuther Zentrum für Kolloide und Grenzflächen, Physikalische Chemie I, and Theoretische Physik III, Universität Bayreuth, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany.
Abstract:
In this paper, we report the experimental observation of the formation of highly ordered parabolic focal conical patterns in lamellar surfactant solutions. Predominantly, we investigated mixtures of sodium dodecyl sulfate, water, hexanol, and decane, located in the immediate vicinity of the region of the L3 and Lalpha phase coexistence. The experimental studies of the formation of the patterns and of their temporal development are described. We give a simple model picture for the underlying structure, corroborated by the experimental results. There appears to be only one independent length scale that controls the appearance of the whole pattern.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
The Seven Crystal Systems: Overview
Quadric Surfaces
Geometry of Hyperbolas
Reflective Property of Parabolas
Crystallographic Point Groups
Centroid for the Paraboloid of Revolution
The centroid for the paraboloid of revolution is the point where all the mass of the paraboloid is concentrated. This centroid is important for engineering applications, as it determines how forces are...

