Electric Response of Nematic Liquid Crystal under Steady Shear Flow

Abstract

We have measured the response of the shear stress to small AC electric fields to investigate the orientation dynamics of a nematic liquid crystal under shear flow. The result was compared with the theoretically derived one from the Ericksen-Leslie theory. A proportional relation between the square of electric field and the stress was confirmed. The experiment result of relation between stress and frequency of electric field fit to the curve of theory well.