Dynamics of Deformation of a Nematic under Strong Crossed Electric and Magnetic Fields

A new mode of reorientation of the field of director of a nematic liquid crystal (LC) encapsulated into a rectangular cell under strong crossed electric (E) and magnetic (B) fields has been proposed. Numerical calculations performed within the linear generalization of the classical Ericksen-Leslie theory show that transition periodic structures facilitating a decrease in the effective rotational viscosity of a nematic, formed by 4-n-pentyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl (5CB) molecules, may arise during reorientation of at certain ratios of the moments and momenta per unit volume of the LC phase and when E ae << E (th). The calculations conducted for 5CB also indicate that the periodic structures formed in a LC cell facilitate a decrease in reorientation time tau(on) of the director field.