A transient surface instability is reported in thin nematic films of 5CB and 8CB, occurring near the nematic-isotropic phase transition. Although this instability leads to patterns reminiscent of spinodal dewetting, we show that it is actually based on a nucleation mechanism. Its characteristic wavelength does not depend markedly on film thickness, but strongly on the heating rate.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0104439,
title = {A Transient Instability in Thin Films of nCB Liquid Crystals},
author = {Stefan Schlagowski and Karin Jacobs and Stephan Herminghaus},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0104439},
year = {2007}
}