title: Biaxial melting of the nematic order under a strong electric field.
abstract: We study the action of a strong electric field on a nematic, topologically stabilized with director n perpendicular to E. Above a threshold field the nematic order on the cell midplane is "melted" and rapidly reconstructed with n axially E. In a Landau-de Gennes model, we show that the observed transient "melted" state is a biaxial nematic and not an isotropic liquid.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, Université Paris-Sud, bat. 510, F-91405 Orsay, France.
authors.forename: Ph
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Martinot-Lagarde
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dreyfus-Lambez
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dozov