THE DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF FLEXOELECTRICITY IN NEMATICS

An experimental investigation of the thermal dependence of the flexoelectric coefficient in the nematic phase of several compounds is reported. It is found to vary essentially like the angular order parameter S. For the first time a symmetric compound (pp prime hexyloxytolan) is shown to exhibit a ″regular″ flexoelectric behavior. All these observations are consistent with the quadrupolar interpretation. Cases are also defined in which the dipolar contribution shows up.