OPTICAL-ACTIVITY OF SMALL-PITCH HELICAL-SHAPED DIELECTRIC MEDIA

Authors
OLDANO C RAJTERI M
Citation
C. Oldano et M. Rajteri, OPTICAL-ACTIVITY OF SMALL-PITCH HELICAL-SHAPED DIELECTRIC MEDIA, Physical review. B, Condensed matter, 54(15), 1996, pp. 10273-10276
Citations number
18
Categorie Soggetti
Physics, Condensed Matter
Journal title
Physical review. B, Condensed matter → ACNP
ISSN journal
01631829
Volume
54
Issue
15
Year of publication
1996
Pages
10273 - 10276
Database
ISI
SICI code
0163-1829(1996)54:15<10273:OOSHDM>2.0.ZU;2-8
Abstract
A chiral smectic liquid crystal is considered, made of elongated molec ules whose directions describe a helix along a given direction. It is shown that for small values of the helix pitch it behaves as a homogen eous medium which is optically active and uniaxial, with maximum rotat ory power for light propagating orthogonally to the helix axis. Analyt ic expressions are given to describe the gyrotropic properties of the medium. The analogies with other helical-shaped structures are discuss ed.