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Some proposals for the application of liquid crystals to photoelastic instrumentation
Author(s) -
HEARN E. J.,
GORMAN B.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
strain
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.477
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1475-1305
pISSN - 0039-2103
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-1305.1983.tb00463.x
Subject(s) - photoelasticity , liquid crystal , instrumentation (computer programming) , microcomputer , optoelectronics , optics , materials science , liquid crystal display , engineering , electrical engineering , engineering physics , computer science , physics , composite material , chip , solid mechanics , operating system
Liquid crystal displays (L.C.D.'s) are well known for their application to electronic watches, calculators, games and digital thermometers, the technology involved being derived from electro‐optic effects observed in liquid crystals since about 1968. This paper describes proposals for a totally different application of one particular class of liquid crystal, as an optical element in a photoelastic transmission or reflective polariscope. The proposals are currently under development* and considerable work remains before this particular application of liquid crystals is perfected. Early results are promising and if successful they could well produce a revolution in the design of optical equipment with particular attraction to automatic systems incorporating microcomputer control.