The Phase Diagram of Dissipative Structure in Nematic (MBBA) : Cholesteric (CN) Mixed-Liquid Crystal

Nematic-cholesteric mixed-liquid crystal is studied from the electrohydrodynamics point of view. A sample is a room-temperature mixture of nematic p-methoxy benzilidene p-n butyl aniline (MBBA) and cholesteryl nonanoate (CN). The phase diagram of observed pattern in frequency-voltage space is reported for the typical concentration of 0.1% CN and 0.5% CN. They are qualitatively similar to that of undoped-nematics (MBBA only), but observed patterns and its change according to the increase of applied field are very remarkable. They are far from that of MBBA, and is considered to be due to the helical structure of cholesteric.