SPATIOTEMPORAL PATTERNS IN THE THERMOCONVECTION OF A PLANAR NEMATIC LAYER - II - EXPERIMENTS

Authors
PLAUT E PASTUR L RIBOTTA R
Citation
E. Plaut et al., SPATIOTEMPORAL PATTERNS IN THE THERMOCONVECTION OF A PLANAR NEMATIC LAYER - II - EXPERIMENTS, The European Physical Journal. B: Condensed Matter Physics, 5(2), 1998, pp. 283-297
Citations number
22
Categorie Soggetti
Physics, Condensed Matter
Journal title
The European Physical Journal. B: Condensed Matter Physics → ACNP
ISSN journal
14346028
Volume
5
Issue
2
Year of publication
1998
Pages
283 - 297
Database
ISI
SICI code
1434-6028(1998)5:2<283:SPITTO>2.0.ZU;2-U
Abstract
We study experimentally the evolution of thermoconvection in a lateral ly extended planar nematic layer, at zero or weak stabilizing magnetic field. As the applied thermal gradient is increased, a cascade of sym metry breakings occurs, towards structures of increasing spatial compl exity, and ultimately towards oscillating states. The patterns are cha racterized optically, and simple models for the distortion of the vert ical (out of plane) component of the director field are proposed.