Critical tilt angle for the optical properties of short pitch chiral smectic liquid crystals

The optical properties of short pitch chiral smectic C liquid crystals change drastically around a given critical tilt angle, θ c . At this angle, the material behaves as an optically isotropic liquid but with a strong optical activity for light propagating orthogonally to the helix axis. It is show...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inFerroelectrics Vol. 212; no. 1; pp. 107 - 114
Main Authors Hubert, Pascal, Jägemalm, Pontus, Oldano, Claudio, Rajteri, Mauro
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Taylor & Francis Group 01.05.1998
Subjects
biaxiality
critical angle
optical activity
smectic
tilt
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:The optical properties of short pitch chiral smectic C liquid crystals change drastically around a given critical tilt angle, θ c . At this angle, the material behaves as an optically isotropic liquid but with a strong optical activity for light propagating orthogonally to the helix axis. It is shown that the polarization properties of the reflected and transmitted beams undergo large changes even for small variations of the tilt angle around the critical one. Some possible applications of the investigated effect are briefly discussed.
ISSN:0015-0193
1563-5112
DOI:10.1080/00150199808217356