Fluctuations In Electrohydrodynamic Instability

Electrohydrodynamic Convection in Liquid Crystals (EHC) is a good system for the experimental study of spatio-temporal chaos. Particularly interesting is the behavior of the Nematic in presence of weak turbulence where ordered and disordered states are mixed. In this case, the fluctuations of velocity and electric current, for instance, are typical fluctuations of a system far from equilibrium. Recently some authors have analyzed the amplitude of the fluctuations as function of the applied electric field and they present interesting interpretations provided by some theories. Although important results have been obtained by these authors, many aspects of the dynamical behavior have to be further analyzed as the role of some localized coherences inside the turbulence regions. The direct optical observation allows us to make a correspondence between fluctuations and patterns, providing important information for a theoretical interpretation.