Extreme Swelling of a Lyotropic Lamellar Liquid Crystal

Abstract

The angular distribution of light scattered by an extremely dilute birefringent lyotropic phase shows two well-defined Bragg peaks providing strong evidence of a true lamellar order (lamellae \ensuremath{\sim} 40 \AA{} thick and 6500 \AA{} apart in the diluent). The steric origin of the stabilization of this stacking is discussed.