Liquid crystal bridges

The liquid crystalline material octylcyanobiphenyl was studied in the form of bridges spanning the space between two solid supports in an immiscible water bath. In the nematic phase the bridge collapses above a certain length-to-diameter ratio, consistent with the behaviour of ordinary Newtonian liquid bridges. The smectic A phase, however, exhibited the formation of very long, stable columns as a consequence of its non-Newtonian behaviour.