Recently new smectic phases have been discovered: the SmF and Sml phases. They appear in some coumpounds when the length of the aliphatic chains reaches a sufficient value to minimize the interlayer coupling. They are characteristic of new stages between the three-dimensionaly (3D) ordered SmB and SmG and the “2D liquid” SmC phase. These phases are made of stacked uncorrelated layers and exhibit either a topological 2D order in Sml or a short range order within a layer in SmF (hexatic phase). These main features are established from different experimental techniques: X-rays, neutrons, NMR and DTA.
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Benattar et al. (1983) studied this question.