Rj. Miller et al., NOVEL FEATURES IN BLUE PHASE KOSSEL DIAGRAMS, Molecular crystals and liquid crystals science and technology. Section A, Molecular crystals and liquid crystals, 302, 1997, pp. 145-150
High resolution Kossel diagram images of the blue phases have been fou
nd to reveal previously unobserved features, some theoretically predic
ted by Belyakov, et al.. These features consist of gaps in the Kossel
line intensity at the crossing point of two or more Kossel lines and i
nterference fringes in regions of many-wave diffraction. A simple theo
ry, side-stepping the need to solve Maxwell's equations, based on the
interference of light diffracted from multiple sets of Bragg planes is
shown to qualitatively explain the results. Also, these many-wave dif
fraction features are shown to allow a solution to the phase problem i
n the blue phases. The modelled results are found to be in contradicti
on with the double twist model of BPII.