Director Field in a Bipolar Configured Nematic Droplet

Polymer dispersed liquid crystal(PDLC) have found its application in flexible displays and switchable windows. Such applications require dimension of the droplets to be several micro meters[1]. Recently, it is found that droplets in PDLC may gather together in some districts by special manufacture process, to form switchable period holographic gratings. Such an application requires dimension of the droplets less than 200 nm[2]. In spite of dimension of the droplets, whether in micrometers …

Director Field in a Bipolar Configured Nematic Droplet

Director field in a bipolar configured nematic droplet is analyzed numerically. Results of the calculation are expressed as the tilted angle of the director in the droplet, which balance between torque by elastic energy and the torque by external electrical field. The tilted angle is expressed as the function depending on latitude angle and relative radius r / R in the spherical droplet. The result shows that the maximum difference of the tilted angle happens at 0.87R, where the tilted angle varies 12℃before applying external field (0 V/μm.) and after applying electrical field (0.62 V/μm). If nematic droplet would be applied as a micro lens, its focus would vary because the refractive index changes due to the change of tilted angle. According to the calculation, maximum modification of refractive index is 0.036, if E7 would be adapted as the nematic phase in the droplet.