Abstract
We have developed a simple optical method based on measurements
of phase retardation versus
out-of-plane cell rotation angle and data analyzed by extended Jones matrix
method to obtain pretilt angles of inverse twisted nematic (ITN) and tilted
homeotropic liquid crystal (LC) cells. In our Jones-matrix calculations, we
have assumed a constant pretilt angle as the LC-director tilt angles throughout
the ITN cell as well as the tilted homeotropic cell. We have compared the
measured pretilt angles of the ITN cell with those of an accompanying tilted
homeotropic (ATH) cell. The results showed increasing discrepancies between
them with increasing rubbing depth for LC alignments. However, these discrepancies
could be explained by assuming that the surface-LC tilt angle of the ITN cell
was equal to the measured pretilt angle of the ATH cell to generate a convex-type
LC-director-deformation profile within the ITN cell based on Oseen-Frank elastic
continuum theory with infinite anchoring energies. The average of the LC-director
tilt angles over this profile was equivalent to the measured pretilt angle
of the ITN cell.
© 2014 IEEE
PDF Article
More Like This
Cited By
You do not have subscription access to this journal. Cited by links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.
Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription