PA06 Field-induced director dynamics of 4-octyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl : A deuterium NMR spectroscopy study

Abstract

We report studies using deuterium NMR spectroscopy of perdeuteriated 4-octyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl-d25 (8CB-d_<25>) where the director is aligned by a magnetic or an electric field. This particular technique was chosen because the spectral peaks associated with each rigid group in the molecule are clearly resolved and of comparable intensity. For all of the experiments in the nematic and smectic phases of 8CB-d_<25> we find that the relaxation times are independent of the group used to determine the director orientation during the alignment process.