Local Field Anisotropy in Nematic Liquid Crystals

Abstract The anisotropy of the local electric field in the interior of ordered fluids provides a measure of the anisotropy of the molecular distribution. In nematics, both the orientational order parameter and the anisotropy of the local field can be calculated from refractive index and density measurements; results are presented for the liquid crystal butyl p-(p-ethoxyphenoxycarbonyl) phenyl carbonate. It is found that the anisotropy of the local field is very nearly proportional to the orientational order parameter. A simple model incorporating steric intermolecular repulsion predicts this behaviour. The ratio of the local field anisotropy to the uniaxial and biaxial order parameters is simply related to the length-to-breadth ratio of the effective molecular hard core.