The essentials of the Kerr effect for polymer-stabilized blue phase liquid crystal

The essentials of the Kerr effect of the polymer-stabilized blue phase liquid crystal (PS-BPLC) are examined using the director model. The Kerr effect describes that the induced birefringence is proportional to the square of the magnitude of the electric field E. The formula should be corrected when E is large. In contrast, the director model can describe the induced birefringence for any magnitude of E. From the director model, it can be found that the birefringence value essentially has a linear relationship with the averaged direction cosine of the directors with respect to the direction of the electric held. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.