Transition from longitudinal to transversal patterns in an anisotropic system.
Periodic stripe patterns which form when an electric field is applied to a thin nematic liquid crystal layer with a very low conductivity are discussed. In this case the dielectric electroconvection mode persists down to very low frequencies of the driving voltage. A Lifschitz point, i.e., a transition from normal to oblique rolls is detected in the dielectric regime. A crossover from electroconvection to flexoelectric domains occurs for extremely low frequencies of about 0.1 Hz . The crossover scenario yields pattern morphologies characteristic for both mechanisms, i.e., electroconvection and flexoelectric domains which appear consecutively within one period of the driving voltage. A theoretical description of the onset characteristics of dielectric convection, which is based on an extended model including flexoelectricity, is also presented.
May
Martin
M
Experimentalphysik V, Universität Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany. martin.may@uni-bayreuth.de
Schöpf
Wolfgang
W
Rehberg
Ingo
I
Krekhov
Alexei
A
Buka
Agnes
A