Impact of Electric Field on Propagation Velocity of Phase Boundary Between Nematic and Isotropic Phases of 5CB Liquid Crystal

Liquid crystal (LC) mesophase materials manifest a variety of phase transitions. The optical properties of LCs are highly dependent upon the phase and orientation of the optical axis with respect to the polarization of incoming light. Studying the LC phase transitions is significantly important for a wide range of scientific and industrial applications. In this study, we demonstrate the propagation velocity of the phase boundary between the nematic and isotropic phase of 4-Cyano-4-pentylbiphenyl (5CB) liquid crystal for different electric fields using a polarized optical microscope. The results demonstrate that the propagation velocity of the phase boundary exhibits a peak value for a specific voltage, attributed to the supercooling of the isotropic phase of the LC. The analysis of the propagation velocity for different electric fields also provides a simple optical platform to measure the thermal anisotropy and voltage dependent thermal properties of the homogeneously aligned LC.