Effective Medium Theory of Light Scattering in PDLC films

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Description/Abstract

We present calculations of the optical properties of PDLC films subjected to normally incident unpolarized light, in the long-wavelength regime under which the Rayleigh�Gans approximation applies. The calculations use an effective medium theory to take account of dependent scattering effects due to close packing of droplets, and use the Percus�Yevick approximation for hard spheres to account for interference effects. The director configurations inside the droplets are found using the effective medium theory which we have developed in earlier papers. Typical results are presented for radial and bipolar droplets. Detailed quantitative results have been derived for the optical characteristics in the presence of an applied field for the technologically important case of PDLC films containing partially ordered bipolar droplets.