Abstract
Initial phase of field-induced molecular reorientation in threshold geometry of a liquid-crystalline structure is essentially influenced by thermal orientational fluctuations. Still not quite clear is the way in which the reorientation starts and how it runs over an LC-structure in its initial phase. Fluctuations are stochastic events in time and also in space. This feature suggests, that the reorientation process may be induced by director fluctuations locally in a particular part of the LC-structure. In this work we have studied the impact of fluctuations on the molecular reorientation in nematics involving optical nonlinear interaction. The restricted area of a nematic layer was excited by light beam that amplified director fluctuations locally. By manipulation of optical excitation we were able to affect the dynamics of the effect. Since the threshold-type configuration of nematics is used in a number of optical devices, the obtained results may have practical aspect contributing to a new way of controlling the field-induced transition.
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Sierakowski, M.W., Woliński, T.R. & Orzechowski, K. Study of the effect of director fluctuations on liquid-crystalline molecular reorientation. Opto-Electron. Rev. 22, 109–112 (2014). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11772-014-0185-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11772-014-0185-z