Coexistence of light-induced thermocapillary and orientational effects in thin nematic films with a free surface

Abstract

Abstract The effect of nonlinear light action on a thin (∼10 µm) films of the nematic liquid crystal deposited onto the absorbing substrate is experimentally investigated. The dynamics of the orientational and thermocapillary effects is directly studied. The two types of orientational processes were found out. The first one appears for several hundreds of milliseconds when the light beam irradiation is turned on or off. The second one develops much slowly and does not relax during the light beam irradiation.