LC Electrohydrodynamic Pump

Abstract

We present results of a study of the movement of ions in nematic liquid crystals (LCs).Just after applying of the driven voltage, the flow of ions is arisen in LC-medium and the ion front begins to move to one of the electrodes. The movable ionic carries involve in the movement neighboring LC molecules (neutral in the electrical charge). If the LCmedium has a limited volume, then a closed system of internal hydrodynamic flows is arisen, which looks like a slowly moved pattern of the curved interference strips. If the lateral end faces of the studied LC cell are closed to each other by an external pipeline, the neutral LC molecules move in the direction of the flow of ions all the time while the driven voltage is applying to the cell electrodes (electrohydrodynamical pump mode). If the external pipeline is open, the flow of LC is stopped in a little while after the driven voltage applying, the LC levels are different in the height for the each pipeline ends. The difference in LC levels characterizes the magnitude of the pressure created by such an electrohydrodynamical pump. The obtained results are discussed with the possible applying the given experimental technique for LC parameters studying.