The determination of cholesteric pitch from the diffusion profile A new experimental approach

Abstract

The optical microscopic mass transport (OMMT) method was utilized to determine the cholesteric pitch values of the mixtures of mesogenic and non-mesogenic chiral species in nematic materials. The cholesteric pitch was determined by transient analysis of the diffusion profile established by allowing an initial cholestric composition (solute) to diffuse under semi-infinite linear boundary conditions into an oriented thin film of its corresponding nematic solvent. During the steady-state diffusion, where the initial concentration (pitch) remains constant, the transient analysis of the profile with a polarization microscope exhibits a maximum number of pitch discontinuity domains. The evaluation of the unknown pitch was carried out by extrapolation of the diffusion pitch gradient to the original diffusion source by using the exact relation between the pitch and the film thickness. The method is experimentally simple; at constant temperature and pressure, determination of the pitch depends only on the film thickness. There is a good agreement between the pitch values obtained with this method and those from conventional techniques.