Stringlike clusters and cooperative interlayer permeation in smectic liquid crystals formed by colloidal rods Patti, Alessandro El Masri, Djamel van Roij, René Dijkstra, Marjolein Using simulations of hard rods in smectic-𝐴�� states, we find stringlike clusters of up to 10 interlayer rods exhibiting dynamic cooperativity. We also find non-Gaussian diffusion and heterogeneous dynamics due to the equilibrium periodic smectic density profiles, which give rise to permanent barriers for layer-to-layer diffusion. This relaxation behavior is surprisingly similar to that of nonequilibrium supercooled liquids, although there the particles are trapped in transient (instead of permanent) cages. 2025-01-13T11:27:28Z 2025-01-13T11:27:28Z 2009 journal article Physical Review Letters, 103, 248304, 2009 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/98956 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.248304 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ open access Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License APS