Planar-fingerprint transition in a thermoreversible liquid crystalline gel.
A thermoreversible (physical) gel consisting of a nematic liquid crystal mixed with a small quantity of a chiral organogelator is investigated in the planar configuration. The response of the system to an external electric field reveals multistability within a small hysteresis. The relaxation of the liquid crystal under this field is characterized by two different time scales: a fast one that is connected to the tilt of the director field, and a slow one that describes the reorientation of the chiral structure. In the first case, the relaxation is nonexponential and can be described by a Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts law with a stretching parameter of 0.5.
de Lózar
Alberto
A
Experimentalphysik V, Universität Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany.
Schöpf
Wolfgang
W
Rehberg
Ingo
I
Lafuente
Oscar
O
Lattermann
Günter
G