THE ELECTRIC-FIELD WITHIN A NEMATIC DROPLET - MOLECULAR-ORIENTATION AND DIELECTRIC-PROPERTIES

The electric field present in an inisotropic medium confined in a spherical cavity within an isotropic medium has been calculated. We considered a nematic liquid crystal with a cylindrically symmetrical director configuration with the symmetry axis along the direction of an applied a.c. electric field. The mesophase and the surrounding medium are considered as having different conductivities and dielectric constants. A lattice of points is defined in the droplet volume and on the boundary surface and the field is obtained at such points. The field is calculated via an iteration process in which the charge densities and the field are calculated alternatively until convergence. The field is obtained by calculating its components, both in phase and in quadrature with respect to the applied field. Results are discussed for various director configurations, relative values of conductivity and dielectric constant, and frequencies of the applied field.