Abstract
Propagating fingers of synclinic liquid crystalline phase were observed to invade the anticlinic phase for applied electric fields E larger than a characteristic threshold field Eth. The front velocity was found to be highly non-linear in E, with enormous velocities of at least 10 cm s-1, and perhaps as high as 400 cm s-1 for the maximum applied field. These are by far the largest velocities ever observed for a liquid crystal. The results are discussed theoretically, including the possibilities of a field-dependent molecular interaction coefficient and shear thinning.