Guided optical waves in a ferroelectric liquid crystal layer

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Abstract
This article reports on the use of guided optical waves for investigating ferroelectric liquid crystals. Although the liquid crystal layer is highly anisotropic in the SmA and SmC* phases, every principle value of the refractive index ellipsoid has been determined by choosing an appropriate rotation angle of the prism with respect to the direction of molecular orientation. In the SmC* phase, an alternating electric field gives rise to the molecular swing around the rubbing direction. The induced alternation of refractive indices provides a high contrast of reflectivity of the incident light, involving the particular characteristics of ferroelectric liquid crystals.