In Situ Measurements of Elastic Constants In Liquid Crystalline Droplets

Abstract

In this work, we investigated the behaviour of cholesteric droplets with homeotropic boundary conditions experimentally and by computer simulations. Small droplets forming twisted radial structure were studied. We obtained two different paths of structural transformations under electric field in such droplets. The choice between these paths has probabilistic nature. The ratio between two transition types was found to be sensible to the elastic constants of LC forming the droplet. We suggest the principal approach for in situ estimation of ratios between elastic constants in cholesteric LCs deposited in polymer dispersed LC material and discuss its strong and weak sides.