Direct measurement of the two principal refractive indexes of a nematic liquid crystal slab.
A new technique to measure the principal refractive indexes of a nematic liquid crystal is presented. The method is based on an indirect measurement of the refraction angle by determining the direction of a magnetic field which minimizes the light scattering. With this technique one can perform different light scattering experiments, which require a knowledge of the refractive indexes, on the same crystal slab. The accuracy is better than +/-0.15%. A discussion about the systematic error due to the distortion of the director profile near the holder edges and the relative correction is given.
Miraldi
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Politecnico di Torino, Istituto di Fisica Sperimentale, 10129-Torino, Italy.
Oldano
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Trossi
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Valabrega
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