2026-07-072026-07-07http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/17642A transient surface instability is reported in thin nematic films of 5CB and 8CB, occurring near the nematic-isotropic phase transition. Although this instability leads to patterns reminiscent of spinodal dewetting, we show that it is actually based on a nucleation mechanism. Its characteristic wavelength does not depend markedly on film thickness, but strongly on the heating rate.3 pages of text (.tex), 5 figure files (.eps)Soft Condensed Mattertext