Frank Constant Determination in a Nematic Liquid Crystal by Light Attenuation Measurement

Abstract
A simple method for measuring the elastic Frank constants of a nematic liquid crystal is described. The method consists in measuring the attenuation of a laser beam transmitted through the specimen as a function of the angle of incidence and making a best fitting by using the results of a theory developed in a previous paper. Some experimental results concerning MBBA liquid crystals are reported and discussed.