Nonequilibrium phase transitions of a nematic liquid crystal under ac field-driven electroconvection.

Abstract

We report on phase transitions between isotropic and nematic liquid crystal phases in nonequilibrium systems (NESs). ac field-driven electroconvection (EC) provides an NES, which can be well controlled by the voltage V and frequency f; it arises electrohydrodynamically at a threshold voltage V_{c}. In continuous cooling and heating processes with various rates R, the critical temperature T_{c} was determined at a critical time t_{c} for phase transitions. Moreover, the morphological and dynamical features in the phase transitions were examined using an electro-optical image processing method. In comparison with an equilibrium system (V=0), two typical turbulent ECs (i.e., NESs), which are called dynamic scattering mode 1 (DSM1 for V>V_{c}) and DSM2 (for V≫V_{c}), were examined to understand the nonequilibrium phase transitions. In particular, our results show that in high voltage-induced turbulence (i.e., DSM2), T_{c} can be determined effectively without considering R; this provides a possibility for a material technology application in nonequilibrium-based circumstances.