Electroconvective instabilities in nematic liquid crystals

Abstract

Electroconvective instabilities in nematic liquid crystals are caused by the electric force acting on charge densities generated in the medium due to a distortion in the orientation field of the anisotropic medium. The conventional view is that anisotropic conductivity provides the mechanism for the charge accumulation. Several experimental results however can be accounted for only by invoking an additional mechanism involving flexoelectric polarization for the charge accumulation. In this article we discuss the recent experimental and theoretical developments in this field.