Eur. Phys. J. B 2, 489-494 (1998)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510050272

Buckling in a solid Langmuir monolayer: light scattering measurements and elastic model

Laboratoire de Physique Statistique de l'École Normale Supérieure ( URA 1306 associée au CNRS et aux Universités Paris 6 et Paris 7.) , 24 rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France

Corresponding author: ^a jalmes@physique.ens.fr

Received: 18 August 1997
Revised: 9 December 1997
Accepted: 29 January 1998
Published online: 15 April 1998

Abstract

Above a surface pressure threshold , we detect a buckled state in the low temperature solid phase of a phospholipid monolayer spread at the air-formamide interface. Stable ripples are observed with a Brewster angle microscope, and light scattering provides measurements mNm^-1, wavelength m and amplitude ξ of a few nm for the deformation. A model, coupling the monolayer thickness and elongation, and consistent with the monolayer texture, is also presented.