ELECTRICALLY INDUCED LIGHT-SCATTERING FROM ANISOTROPIC GELS

Anisotropic gels were produced by photopolymerization of an oriented liquid-crystalline (LC) mixture containing LC diacrylates and conventional LC molecules. Gels produced in this way were clear and did not give rise to excess scattering of light. Upon application of an electric field across the gel, the system turned translucent. Light scattered by the gel was found to be highly dependent on the direction of polarization and wavelength of the incident light.