Abstract Investigations are reported on the electric field induced orientational transitions in the bend Freedericksz geometry under the action of a stabilizing magnetic field. When the magnetic field is strong enough, the deformation above electric threshold is periodic with the periodicity disappearing at a higher voltage. The alignment does not remain homeotropic below threshold and the sample exhibits pretransitional biaxiality.
Every transition is discontinuous and accompanied by hysteresis.
A form of scaling appears to hold for all the observed thresholds. The thresholds and the direction of the wavevector are frequency dependent showing that the instability mechanism involves electrical conductivity.