OPTICAL-ROTATORY POWER OF A CHIRAL LIQUID-CRYSTAL IN A CONFINED GEOMETRY

The optical rotatory power R-pore of a chiral liquid crystal in a Vyco r-like glass has been measured as a function of temperature. Unlike th e sharp cusp observed near the isotropic-blue-phase transition tempera ture in bulk, an ''S''-shaped dependence of smaller magnitude was obse rved for the confined system, The observed behavior may be attributed to a combination of surface interactions and finite-size effects, whic h are discussed in terms of an infrared cutoff in the orientational pa ir correlation function.