Temperature and external field-driven microrelief at free surface of smectic-A liquid crystal

A homeotropically oriented smectic-A film on a solid substrate with periodical microrelief is considered. Periodical distortions of the free surface of the film induced by this microrelief are theoretically investigated. The dependence of these distortions on the film thickness, the temperature, and external magnetic (electric) field is obtained. It is shown that, for a certain choice of the shape of the substrate surface microrelief, one can realize a temperature and external magnetic (electric) field control on the microrelief at the free surface of the smectic-A film.