Abstract
IT has long been known that nematic liquid crystals show remarkable orientation effects in electric fields as well as in magnetic fields1. We have observed the formation of domains in thin layers of the liquid crystal phase of several organic compounds. Typical results were obtained with p-azoxyanisole, 
The domains form in electric fields of about 3,000 V/cm. Their appearance and behaviour suggest several properties of liquid crystals which have not previously been reported.
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References
Kast, W., Z. Physik, 71, 39 (1931). Freedericksz, V., and Zolina, V., Trans. Farad. Soc., 29, 919 (1933). Zwetkoff, V., Acta Physicochimica URSS, 6, 865 (1937).
Gray, G. W., Molecular Structure and the Properties of Liquid Crystals (a photograph of the threads is shown in Plate 3) (Academic Press, New York, 1962).
Maier, W., and Saupe, A., Z. Naturforschung, 14, a, 882 (1959).
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WILLIAMS, R. Liquid Crystals in an Electric Field. Nature 199, 273–274 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1038/199273a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/199273a0
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