Refractive index gradients and light scattering in polymer-dispersed liquid crystal films

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Abstract
We compare the light scattering properties of polymer-dispersed liquid crystal films incorporating different nematic mixtures. We find that, when powered, the turbidity of these disparate films share a common quadratic dependence on the refractive index difference between the nematic and polymer. In contrast, when we compare the turbidity of powered and unpowered films with the same refractive index difference, we find that the unpowered films scatter much more strongly. These differences show that the scattering cross section for a droplet depends not just on the refractive index of the polymer interface, but also on the structure surrounding the droplet.