Phenomenological Scattering Models for Nematic Droplet/Polymer Films: Refractive Index and Droplet Correlation Effects

Abstract

We establish some phenomenological relationships for the scattering properties of select films of nematic dispersions. For powered films of similar structure but containing different LC's, angle and polarization-dependent transmission measurements show that film scattering depends simply on the refractive index mismatch between the polymer and nematic. We find little wavelength dependence on the film scattering cross section when the refractive index mismatch between LC and polymer is small. We examine the importance of the refractive index gradient produced by anti-correlated LC droplets as a factor in the film scattering of unpowered films. We find that in unpowered films it appears that these gradients are at least as important in contributing to film scattering as the more familiar LC/polymer refractive index gradient.