Director fields of disclinations in the nematic mesophase decorated by focal-conic texture for side-chain liquid crystalline polymers

A new decoration method termed as focal-conic texture decoration has been e stablished to map the director field of disclinations of nematic mesophases for a side-chain liquid crystalline polymer (SCLCP) based on its transitio n from nematic to smectic phase with focal-conic texture observed under a p olarizing optical microscope. FT-IR microscopy was used to ascertain the re lationship between the mesogenic orientation direction and the orientation direction of focal-conic texture, which exhibits consequently the director field of a disclination.