Deuterium NMR Investigation of the Director Distribution in a Nematic Liquid Crystal Slab Subject to Electric, Magnetic and Surface Fields (Part 1)

Abstract

We have used deuterium NMR to investigate the director distribution in a 5CB confined between two glass plates and subject to both magnetic and electric fields. The quadrupolar splitting from a sample with a weak anchoring condition decreases with increasing electric field, through zero and then increases again to a value which is essentially half of that in zero electric field. It would seem that the director orientation changes more or less continuously from being parallel to the magnetic field to being orthogonal to it, as the electric field grows. The voltage dependence of the quadrupolar splitting for a strong anchoring condition is nearly the same as that for a weak anchoring case. However two quadrupolar splittings are observed below a critical value of the electric field.