Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 14, 2026

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
On-off intermittency in chaotic rotation induced in liquid crystals by competition between spin and orbital angular
A Vella1, A Setaro, B Piccirillo
1Istituto Nazionale di Fisica della Materia, Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, via Cintia, 80126 Napoli, Italy. angela.vella@na.infn.it
Abstract:
We observed on-off intermittency in the chaotic rotation induced by a cw laser beam in a thin liquid crystal film where the spin and the orbital angular momentum of light compete in reorienting the sample. We found that the azimuthal angle phi(t) of the molecular director increased linearly in time on large time scales but, occasionally, it exhibited large fluctuations about its average value omega(0)t, so that its angular velocity phi;(t) undergoes an on-off intermittent motion. The intermittent signal omega(t)=phi;(t)-omega(0) obeyed the scaling laws of on-off intermittency, including the symmetry between laminar and burst phases. The chaotic rotations were observed only when the spin and the angular momentum of light were transferred simultaneously to the sample.
Related Concept Videos
Interference and Diffraction
¹H NMR: Interpreting Distorted and Overlapping Signals
As Δν decreases and the signals move closer, the doublets appear increasingly distorted. The intensities of the inner lines increase at the cost of those of the outer lines as the signals are slanted or...
Conservation of Angular Momentum
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Relaxation Processes
Spin–Spin Coupling Constant: Overview
Qualitatively, any spin plus-half nucleus polarizes the spins of its electrons to the minus-half state. Consequently, the paired electron in the hydrogen–carbon bond must have a...
Oscillations In An LC Circuit

