Anisotropic diffusion of light in polymer dispersed liquid crystals

Anisotropic diffusion of light was experimentally first observed in bulk nematic liquid crystals. The origin of anisotropy in such a system is due to the optical anisotropy of nematic liquid crystal and to anisotropic scattering of light from nematic orientational fluctuations. In polymer dispersed liquid crystals (PDLCs) anisotropic scatterers-i.e., nematic droplets-are embedded in an optically isotropic polymer. The anisotropy of diffusion of light in this system therefore depends only on the anisotropic scattering from a single nematic droplet and on the average orientation of the droplets in PDLCs. In the absence of an external field droplets in PDLCs are randomly oriented and diffusion of light is isotropic. In an external field the droplets are on average oriented in the direction of the external field and the diffusion of light becomes anisotropic. We calculated the diffusion tensor and expected anisotropy of the diffusion of light as a function of an external field, kR, and volume fraction using the theory developed for bulk nematic liquid crystals. Our calculations show that the anisotropy of diffusion tensor can have both the signs and that the magnitude of diffusion constants increase with increasing external field.