Direct observation of coupling between orientation and flow fluctuations in a nematic liquid crystal at equilibrium.

Orihara, Hiroshi; Sakurai, Nobutaka; Sasaki, Yuji; Nagaya, Tomoyuki · Phys Rev E · 2017

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

To demonstrate coupling between orientation and flow fluctuations in a nematic liquid crystal at equilibrium, we simultaneously observe the intensity change due to director fluctuations under a polarizing microscope and the Brownian motion of a fluorescent particle trapped weakly by optical tweezers. The calculated cross-correlation function of the particle position and the spatial gradient of the intensity is nonzero, clearly indicating the existence of coupling.