Frequency Dependence of Electric-Field Induced Director Orientation of Smectic-A Phase in an Isotropic Phase

Abstract

Electric field-induced director orientation of smectic-A phase in an isotropic phase has been studied with a polarizing microscope using the binary mixture of octyloxycyanobiphenyl and dodecyl alcohol. Electric field is applied to the samples in which spherical smectic-A domains with and without defects in an isotropic phase are observed. Field-induced orientation of smectic-A director is observed for spherical smectic-A domains with defects but not observed for those without defects below electric field strength of 1.0 V/μm. The threshold field for the smectic-A director orientation is found to be dependent on the frequency of applied electric field.