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Updated: Jul 7, 2026
Measuring Magnetically-Tuned Ferroelectric Polarization in Liquid Crystals
Published on: August 15, 2018
Angular-scattering characteristics of ferroelectric liquid-crystal electro-optical devices operating in the
K L Marshall1, J Haddock, N Bickel
1Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, 250 East River Road, Rochester, New York 14623-1212, USA. kmar@lle.rochester.edu
Abstract:
The angular distribution of forward-scattered light in transient-scattering-mode (TSM) and extended-scattering-mode (ESM) ferroelectric liquid-crystal (FLC) devices was evaluated by use of circularly polarized incident light. For both modes the intensity and the distribution of forward-scattered light depended primarily on the FLC birefringence, spontaneous polarization, and the cell path length. In the FLC materials examined, the forward-scattering intensity under ESM drive conditions increased with longer FLC pitch lengths, whereas under TSM conditions stronger forward scattering was observed with increasing FLC spontaneous polarization. Although both TSM and ESM drive conditions displayed a similar angular distribution for forward-scattered light, the intensity of ESM scattering over a 0 degrees -6 degrees range was considerably smaller than that observed in earlier experiments with linearly polarized incident light.
