Scribd
Upload
436 views2 pages

Optical Properties of Liquid Crystal

Liquid crystals are birefringent materials, meaning their index of refraction depends on the polarization and direction of light. For nematic liquid crystals, light polarized parallel to the director has an index n||, while light polarized perpendicular has an index n┴. The difference between these indices, Δn, known as birefringence, decreases with increasing temperature as the material becomes less ordered. Birefringence causes optical retardation, where perpendicular components of light enter a liquid crystal in phase but grow out of phase as they propagate through the birefringent material.

Uploaded by

ericklcl
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
436 views2 pages

Optical Properties of Liquid Crystal

Liquid crystals are birefringent materials, meaning their index of refraction depends on the polarization and direction of light. For nematic liquid crystals, light polarized parallel to the director has an index n||, while light polarized perpendicular has an index n┴. The difference between these indices, Δn, known as birefringence, decreases with increasing temperature as the material becomes less ordered. Birefringence causes optical retardation, where perpendicular components of light enter a liquid crystal in phase but grow out of phase as they propagate through the birefringent material.

Uploaded by

ericklcl
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Optical Properties of Liquid Crystal

[Ref. Introduction to Liquid Crystals Chemistry and Physics by P J Collings & M Hird]
Birefringence:
When light enters a material, its wavelength and velocity decrease by a factor called the index of refraction. In non-
magnetic materials, which cover just about all liquid crystals, the index of refraction is simply equal to the square
root of the relative permittivity or dielectric constant. An isotropic material has a single index of refraction, since light
polarised in any direction travels at the same velocity in the material. The index of refraction of water is about 1.3
and of glass about 1.5. When light travels from one material to another, in general some of the light is reflected and
some is transmitted with a change of direction (refracted). In most materials the index of refraction increases with
increasing frequency, a phenomenon responsible for the ability of a prism to separate white light into its various
colours. If 𝑛 is the index of refraction of a material, then the wavelength and velocity of the light in the material are
given by the following relations
𝑣 = 𝑐/𝑛 and 𝜆 = 𝜆0 /𝑛,
where 𝜆0 is the wavelength of the light in vacuum. The period and angular frequency of the light are the same in all
materials, as can be seen by finding the period by dividing the wavelength by the velocity. The wavevector in the
material is given by
2𝜋 2𝜋𝑛
𝑘= = = 𝑛𝑘0 ,
𝜆 𝜆0

where 𝑘0 is the wavevector of the light in vacuum. Because the relative permittivity of an anisotropic substance is
different for electric fields in different directions, the index of refraction for light polarised with its electric field in
different directions is also different. This optical phenomenon is called birefringence and since we are discussing
linearly polarised light, it should really be called linear birefringence. In a nematic liquid crystal, this means that light
polarised parallel to the director propagates according to one index of refraction, 𝑛|| , and light polarised perpendicular
to the director has another index of refraction, 𝑛┴ . Figure 1 shows how these two indices of refraction for one wave-
length vary with temperature.

Fig. 1. Indices of refraction for a typical nematic liquid crystal.


The difference between the two indices of refraction, Δ𝑛 = 𝑛|| − 𝑛┴ , (called its optical anisotropy or birefringence),
clearly shows the fact that the order parameter decreases with increasing temperature. In fact, Δ𝑛 follows the variation
of the order parameter as Figure 2 demonstrates.

Lecture Note by Ihtisham Qabid: Liquid Crystal


Fig. 2. Birefringence for a typical nematic liquid crystal.
Birefringence is a property of all anisotropic materials, whether uniaxial or biaxial. Nematic liquid crystals fall into
the uniaxial category along with crystals of hexagonal, tetragonal and trigonal symmetry. In all of these systems there
is one direction different from the other two and the index for light polarised in this direction is called the extraordinary
index, 𝑛𝑒 . The index of refraction for light polarised perpendicular to this direction is the ordinary index, 𝑛𝑜 . In a
liquid crystal, 𝑛𝑒 corresponds to 𝑛|| and 𝑛𝑜 corresponds to 𝑛┴ . Some liquid crystal phases along with orthorhombic,
monoclinic and triclinic crystals are biaxial and have three indices of refraction. The optical anisotropy for these
systems is usually defined as the difference between the largest and smallest indices. If the optical anisotropy is
positive (𝑛𝑒 is greater than 𝑛𝑜 in a uniaxial system), the material is said to be positive uniaxial. If the opposite is true,
the material is negative uniaxial. The two indices of refraction in a nematic liquid crystal equal the square root of the
corresponding relative permittivities. Therefore, it is not the optical anisotropy or birefringence that is most directly
related to the order parameter but the difference in the squares of the two indices. For this reason, the quantity 𝑛||2 −
𝑛┴2 is frequently used to get an estimate of the order parameter.
Optical Retardation: Because liquid crystals are birefringent, light polarised along different directions travels at
different velocities. Thus, two perpendicular components of light that enter the liquid crystal in phase grow out of
phase as they propagate through the liquid crystal. This effect is known as optical retardation and is very important
in liquid crystals.

Lecture Note by Ihtisham Qabid: Liquid Crystal

You might also like