Open AccessUtilizing critical angles in sensing partially ordered liquid crystal profile
Author(s) -
Alaeddin S. Abu-Abed,
Robert G. Lindquist
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.17.023729
Subject(s) - liquid crystal , total internal reflection , optics , materials science , isotropy , optical axis , orientation (vector space) , tracking (education) , uniaxial crystal , reflection (computer programming) , physics , geometry , computer science , psychology , pedagogy , programming language , mathematics , lens (geology)
This paper investigates a new approach for tracking nematic uniaxial liquid crystal (LC) profile in partially ordered LC based sensors. This approach utilizes measuring critical angles for total internal reflection (TIR) at the interface of optically isotropic and partially ordered LC film. The proposed optical transduction requires measuring of the ordinary critical angle and two extraordinary critical angles in orthogonal directions to report the LC degree of ordering and the director axis orientation.