Measurement of helical twisting power based on axially symmetrical photo-aligned dye-doped liquid crystal film

This investigation demonstrates a simple but accurate method for measuring the helical twisting power of chiral doped liquid crystals using axially symmetrical photo-alignment in azo dye-doped liquid crystal films. As reported in our previous paper, a reversed twist effect produces a disclination line in photo-aligned axially symmetrical liquid crystal films. The pitch and helical twisting power can be obtained by measuring the rotation angle of the disclination line in chrial doped liquid crystal. This method is independent of cell gap and provide an error below 0.5%. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America