THE ELECTRIC-FIELD WITHIN A NEMATIC DROPLET - MOLECULAR-ORIENTATION AND DIELECTRIC-PROPERTIES

The electric field present in an inisotropic medium confined in a sphe rical cavity within an isotropic medium has been calculated. We consid ered a nematic liquid crystal with a cylindrically symmetrical directo r configuration with the symmetry axis along the direction of an appli ed a.c. electric field. The mesophase and the surrounding medium are c onsidered as having different conductivities and dielectric constants. A lattice of points is defined in the droplet volume and on the bound ary surface and the field is obtained at such points. The field is cal culated via an iteration process in which the charge densities and the field are calculated alternatively until convergence. The field is ob tained by calculating its components, both in phase and in quadrature with respect to the applied field. Results are discussed for various d irector configurations, relative values of conductivity and dielectric constant, and frequencies of the applied field.