Physical systems producing caustics may possess symmetries. In that case the relation between the symmetry of the system, considered as a whole, and the symmetry of the caustic follow a very general symmetry principle, the Curie principle. We give various examples of application of the Curie principle to caustics produced by the deflection of light in liquid crystals: the so called squint effect, the visualization of a new type of roll structure, etc. We show also that the Curie principle applies to physical systems having multiple stable states (variants).
@article{bwmeta1.element.bwnjournal-article-doi-10_4064-bc62-0-10,
author = {Alain Joets and Ahmed Belaidi and Roland Ribotta},
title = {Symmetric caustics and Curie's principle},
journal = {Banach Center Publications},
volume = {60},
year = {2003},
pages = {135-142},
zbl = {1060.78505},
language = {en},
url = {http://dml.mathdoc.fr/item/bwmeta1.element.bwnjournal-article-doi-10_4064-bc62-0-10}
}
Alain Joets; Ahmed Belaidi; Roland Ribotta. Symmetric caustics and Curie's principle. Banach Center Publications, Tome 60 (2003) pp. 135-142. http://gdmltest.u-ga.fr/item/bwmeta1.element.bwnjournal-article-doi-10_4064-bc62-0-10/