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Abstract
We present a novel method for spatially resolved measurements of the amplitudes of thermal fluctuations and surface pretilt angles in thin cells filled with nematic liquid crystals (LC).
We use the idea that the dynamical response of the director field during a switching process critically depends on the initial conditions of the director field which vary over the cell plane. The applied switching voltage acts as an amplifier which augments initial director deformations by orders of magnitude. By means of a CCD line scan camera combined with a polarizing microscope, we study the time dependence of the optical transmission curves. Their slopes give information on viscoelastic parameters whereas their delay can be related directly to the initial director angle.