Influence of director fluctuations on the electric-field phase diagrams of nematic liquid crystals

We report the first experimental high–electric-field phase diagram of a nematic liquid crystal with negative dielectric anisotropy. The variation of the paranematic-nematic transition temperature (TPN) is essentially linear with |E|, whereas the Landau-de Gennes theory predicts a quadratic variation. It is argued that the quenching of director fluctuations by the field contributes significantly to the thermodynamics of the transition.