Issue |
Europhys. Lett.
Volume 51, Number 1, July I 2000
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 48 - 54 | |
Section | Electromagnetism, optics, acoustics, heat transfer, classical mechanics, and fluid dynamics | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i2000-00336-3 | |
Published online | 01 September 2002 |
Orientational transition in nematic liquid crystals under oscillatory Poiseuille flow
1
Physikalisches Institut, Universität Bayreuth -
95440 Bayreuth, Germany
2
Institute of Molecule and Crystal Physics,
Russian Academy of Sciences 450025 Ufa, Russia
3
Fachbereich Physik, Universität Oldenburg -
26111 Oldenburg, Germany
Corresponding author: peter.toth@theo.phy.uni-bayreuth.de
Received:
29
November
1999
Accepted:
12
May
2000
We investigate the orientational behaviour of a homeotropically aligned nematic liquid crystal subjected to an oscillatory plane Poiseuille flow produced by an alternating pressure gradient. For small pressure amplitudes the director oscillates within the flow plane around the initial homeotropic position, whereas for higher amplitudes a spatially homogeneous transition to out-of-plane director motion was observed for the first time. The orientational transition was found to be supercritical and the measured frequency dependence of the critical pressure amplitude in the range between 2 and 20 Hz was in quantitative agreement with a recent theory.
PACS: 47.20.Ft – Instability of shear flows / 61.30.-v – Liquid crystals / 61.30.Eb – Experimental determinations of smectic, nematic, cholesteric, and other structures
© EDP Sciences, 2000
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