A combined study of the director orientation using deuterium NMR spectroscopy and simultaneous in-situ observation of the optical transmittance

Abstract

It is important both for basic science and device applications to investigate the static and dynamic director orientation in a thin nematic liquid crystal (NLC) slab. Optical and electrical measurement methods are generally used to determine the director orientation or distribution. It is to be expected that deuterium NMR spectroscopy combined with simultaneous insitu observation of the optical transmittance should give us a good understanding of the director orientation for a thin NLC slab because the former is controlled by the sum of the spectrum over each position in the slab and the latter by the optical anisotropy averaged over the slab. This combined method is used to investigate the director distribution in a thin NLC slab.