Abstract

This paper discusses the transmission and reflection of light by a layer of spherical drops of a nematic liquid crystal dispersed in a polymeric binding matrix. An optical model has been developed for analyzing the coherent transmittance and reflectance of light under normal illumination with unpolarized light, based on a generalization of the Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin approximation to the vector case. Analytical expressions are obtained for the amplitude-matrix elements when light is scattered strictly forward and backward for liquid-crystal drops with homogeneous configuration of the director. For nematic drops with a more complex director configuration, the effective-medium approximation is used to describe the scattering-matrix elements. The coherent transmittance and reflectance of light by monolayer films are analyzed for various orientations of the optical axes of the drops.

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