Thermal Conduction near an Interface in a Nematic Liquid Crystal Subjected to a Magnetic Field

Thermal conductivities of nematic p-n-decyloxybenzoic acid were measured by a transient hot-wire method. A magnetic field was applied in a direction perpendicular to the heat flux. It was found that conductivity of the interfacial layer around the wire is not affected by the field, whereas conductivity of the bulk region decreases toward a saturation value as the field strength is increased. By an extrapolation method, the principal thermal conductivities and the magnetic polarizability of the unit particle of orientation were determined.