Diffraction from polymer-stabilized cholesteric texture films

We have performed diffraction experiments on polymer-stabilized cholesteric texture (PSCT) films made from E48-BAB6 mixtures cured at various UV inten sities. The diffraction observed in these samples is the Qu'etelet-type rin g pattern, which is generated from the scattering of light by the clusters of the polymer networks and the focal conic domains of cholesteric liquid c rystals in a PSCT cell. We monitored the dynamic change of the intensity of the first ring of a sample during polymerization. After polymerization, bo th the electro-optical characteristics and the diffracted ring intensities of various orders were measured. The results showed that both the applied v oltage and the UV curing intensity affected the diffraction intensity signi ficantly. Furthermore, the results obtained from diffraction measurements c orrelate with the electro-optical ones. Thus, the diffraction measurements could provide us with another qualitative, nondestructive method to analyze PSCT devices.