Fig. 4. POM images of the kaleidoscopic textures in the SmA phase of 8CB with the same hole patterns and anchoring conditions as in Fig. 2.

(A to D) The textures in PI-treated LC cells segment into facets with fan-like smectic order, which meet with abrupt angle changes. The hyperbolic −1 defect is a junction of four facets and has fine structure due to incompatibility with the no-bending condition, sometimes visibly splitting into pairs of −1/2 defects (encircled). (E to H) LC cells without PI treatment contain +1 defects, which retain a pinwheel appearance. In pattern I, the pinwheel only touches the pillars, while in pattern II, the fans connect to the facing edges of the square holes. The −1 defects are centers of the disorder-looking region of the smectic between the fan-like facets. The insets show the POM images with an inserted λ wave plate. Observe that the overall color hues remain similar to those in the nematic phase, presented in Fig. 2, as the birefringence and large-scale orientational order remain almost unchanged. Scale bars, 20 μm.