Liquid-Crystalline Curvature Electricity: The Bending Mode of MBBA

Abstract

Measurements are reported which show that the room-temperature nematic MBBA can be deformed by means of curvature electricity if it is contained in a thin sandwich cell with the electric field parallel and the unique axis normal to the bounding walls. Meyer's coefficient e₃₃ was determined to be 4 · 10^-5 dyne^1/2 at room temperature; and its sign was found to be positive.