Upon increasing temperature, high-resolution optical reflectivity data have revealed unusual melting transitions above the smectic-A–isotropic transition in free-standing films of one partially perfluorinated compound. For sufficiently thin films (fewer than nine layers), a sequence of regular layer-by-layer thinning transitions is found. The evolution of this unique thinning process can be well described by a simple power law with exponent ζ=0.70.

• Received 26 December 1996

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.55.4386