Direction dependency of extraordinary refraction index in uniaxial nematic liquid crystals

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the directional dependence of the extraordinary refractive index in uniaxial nematic liquid crystals through a simple experimental setup that allows both qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a straightforward experimental method to measure the direction-dependent extraordinary refractive index in uniaxial nematic liquid crystals.

Findings

Confirmed the anisotropic nature of the refractive index

Provided quantitative measurements of index variation with direction

Illustrated double refraction in uniaxial nematic liquid crystals

Abstract

The article presents a straightforward experiment that directly and illustratively demonstrates double refraction. For this purpose, two liquid crystalline cells were designed, which enable qualitative and quantitative measurements of the extraordinary refractive index direction dependency in a uniaxial nematic liquid crystal.