Shear deformation and division of cylindrical walls in free-standing nematic films under high electric fields.

We report on the behavior of cylindrical walls formed in a substrate-free nematic film of PCH5 under the action of an in-plane ac field. In the film, with vertical molecular alignment at all the limiting surfaces, annular Brochard-Leger walls are induced well above the bend-Freedericksz threshold. They exhibit, at high field strengths, a new type of instability not encountered in sandwich, or any other, cell configuration. It manifests as a shearing of the loop-wall between the opposite free-surfaces. The shear strain is measured as a function of time, field strength, frequency, and temperature. Significantly, the strain is linear in field strength. The origin of shear and its dependence on field variables are explained through an adaptation of the Carr-Helfrich mechanism of charge separation. The sheared wall is stable against pincement up to several times the threshold field, and divides itself into two fragments under a large enough strain. With the shear distortion, linear defects appear in the opposite splay-bend regions, just as Neel lines in Bloch walls of magnetic systems. At very low frequencies, flexoelectric influence on distortion is revealed.