"smaller distance" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it when referring to something measuring a shorter, or relatively shorter, distance. For example, "The marathon runners reduced their time by decreasing the smaller distance between each mile marker."
This may enable a smaller distance between the add-on perforated and basic plate to be used.
Most likely, this increase is caused by a field-enhancement because of the smaller distance between the two striplines at this position.
Compared with NSGA-II and SPEA2, SPEA2+ could acquire the Pareto front with better distribution and smaller distance with the optimum solutions.
A smaller distance between the inner leaching tubing and the blanket is suggested in the early leaching stages to increase the usable volume of the cavern.
This work demonstrates that the smaller distance of separation between the anchoring units increases the insulating capacity of the molecular layer which retards the back electron transfer.
We find also that the dislocation tends to move towards a surface which possesses a smaller surface shear modulus and a smaller distance to the dislocation.
It was found that any increased repulsive potential resulting from a smaller distance between the charged micelles was relieved by a decrease in the surface charge.
If you were a witness in a criminal case asked to recall how close two suspects were standing next to each other "whispering", you'd likely report a smaller distance than if the questioner had used the word "talking".
This is a much smaller distance than that between the Earth and the Sun, for instance, and it means that if the Sun were a black hole, the Earth would not change its orbit.
Further experiment demonstrates that the optimized pyramid structure enables the integrated luminescent intensity to reach ∼3× increase in a smaller distance of optical transport, which means the advantages in photon capturing efficiency for cells with higher aspect ratio.
Both had significantly thinner cortex and smaller distance to center of bone mass, and women with trochanteric fracture had a significantly smaller cortical perimeter in the cross-sectional femoral neck.
