Let $A _ { 1 } , A _ { 2 } , A _ { 3 } , \ldots$ be squares such that for each $n \geq 1$, the length of the side of $A _ { n }$ equals the length of diagonal of $A _ { n + 1 }$. If the length of $A _ { 1 }$ is 12 cm, then the smallest value of $n$ for which area of $A _ { n }$ is less than one is