  Nematic drops suspended in the isotropic phase of the same substance were
subjected to alternating electrical fields of varying frequency. The system was
carefully kept in the isotropic-nematic coexistance region, which was broadened
due to small amounts of non-mesogenic additives. Whereas the droplets remained
spherical at low (order of 10 Hz) and high frequencies (in the kHz range), at
intermediate frequencies, we observed a marked flattening of the droplet in the
plane perpendicular to the applied field. The deformation of the liquid crystal
(LC) droplets occurred both in substances with positive and negative dielectric
anisotropy. The experimental data can be quantitatively modelled with a
combination of the leaky dielectric model and screening of the applied electric
field due to the finite conductivity.
