High-frequency changes in the orientation of nematic liquid crystals in radio frequency crossed electric fields

The orientational dynamics of the director of a nematic liquid crystal located in radio frequency crossed electric fields were studied by numerical calculations and experimentally. This system is shown to be a physical object of nonlinear dynamics. Depending on the parameters of the problem, the following types of states of the director were observed: stationary (an analog of the nonthreshold Freedericksz transition), periodic, quasiperiodic (multimode), and stochastic of the strange attractor type. In the calculations, all states were obtained by solving a deterministic system of two time-dependent nonlinear differential equations of the first order with no electrohydrodynamic terms. All types of solutions obtained, including stochastic ones, were observed experimentally.