Analogy between Instabilities in Isotropic Fluid and Nematic Liquid Crystal

Abstract

The regime diagram for instabilities in the nematic liquid crystal MBBA, which is electrically excited, have close analogy with that of thermally excited isotropic fluids. It is confirmed that the applied voltage and the frequency correspond to the Rayleigh number and the Prandtl number, respectively, through non-dimensionalization on them. A wavy pattern is newly found.