Abstract
We report on the light transmission of nematic liquid crystals with positive and negative dielectric anisotropy under a.c. electric fields. Using the twisted nematic effect we determined the frequency of dielectric isotropy f 0 as a function of temperature for the phenyl benzoates mixtures ZLI 518, WI and ZLI 612 (Fa. E. Merck). The results are in good agreement with those from dielectric measurements. The activation energies for this relaxation process were calculated. By tunable birefringence the temperature dependence of the refractive index difference was measured for 4′-n-pentyl-4-cyanobiphenyl (PCB). The results were compared with those from measurements with the Leitz-Jelly micro-refractometer.