Description of optical properties of cholesteric photonic liquid crystals based on Maxwell equations and Kramers-Kronig relations

摘要

Transmission spectra and rotation of the plane of polarization of light were measured on perfect samples ofncholesteric liquid crystal.We found peculiarities of the spectral dependence of rotation of the plane of polarizationnrelated to Pendell¨osung oscillations that were predicted theoretically but never observed experimentally. Thenexperimental data are well described by expressions based on an analytical solution of the Maxwell equations.nAn approach based on fundamental Kramers-Kronig relations is used to describe the optical properties of thenphotonic crystal. It is shown that the rotatory power of cholesterics consists of two parts: one of them is related tonthe diffraction-induced circular dichroism whereas the other one originates from the tails of theMauguin rotationnof the plane of light polarization.