Abstract
We have studied the influence of electric fields on highly viscous polymer films. An electrohydrodynamic (EHD) instability causes a wave pattern with a characteristic wavelength λ, leading to an array of polymer columns which span the gap of a capacitor device. When represented as a master curve, the data is quantitatively described by an EHD model, without any adjustable parameters. Our results suggest that EHD experiments using polymer films are well suited to study non-equilibrium pattern formation in quasi-two-dimensional systems.