Preliminary Results on the Elastooptic Behavior of a Cholesteric Liquid Crystal

Abstract

We report preliminary results on the optical properties of a cholesteric liquid crystal when it is submitted to a normal stress. We see for small deformations the sample reacts elastically and the pitch decreases or increases following if we press or dilate the sample, without hysteresis. For higher stresses other physical processes take place giving also an hysteresis of the behavior.