Influence of Electric Fields on the Molecular Alignment in the Liquid Crystal<i>p</i>-(Anisalamino)-phenyl Acetate

Abstract

Abstract The effects of electric fields on the molecular alignment in the liquid crystal p-(anisalamino)-phenyl acetate are discussed. The behavior of this material is similar to that of p-azoxyanisole in that the ordering which is normally observed shows an alignment with the molecular axis preferring a direction parallel to the field at low audio frequencies, and perpendicular to the field for frequencies of a few hundred kHz. Results comparing the effectiveness of electric and magnetic fields for producing molecular alignment are presented which support a theory presented earlier to explain the ordering in p-azoxyanisole at audio frequencies. This theory involves the anisotropy associated with the electrical conductivity. Results are also presented which show that the effectiveness of dc electric fields is comparable to that for low audio frequencies. A few comments are made concerning recent work employing electric fields to produce ordering in liquid crystals for NMR studies.