Reflection and transmission of light by cholesteric liquid crystal-glass-cholesteric liquid crystal and cholesteric liquid crystal(1)-cholesteric crystal(2) systems

Reflection and transmission of light by cholesteric liquid crystal-glass-cholesteric liquid crystal and cholesteric liquid crystal(1)-cholesteric liquid crystal(2) systems were studied. The classical Ambartsumyan method of adding layers and the concept of a sewing function were used. This approach was developed earlier in astrophysics for the theory of radiation transfer. Here, we used a version of this method adapted to wave optics. The Jones matrices are constructed for these systems. The features of the reflection and transmission spectra, optical rotation and ellipticity of polarization were studied for these systems. It is proposed to use these systems as tunable narrow-band filters and mirrors. These systems can be used, for example, to develop a variety of optical elements for lasers and of polarimetric elements in ellipsometry. The specific features of eigenpolarization are also discussed. It is shown that optical rotation of the two layers of cholesteric liquid crystals, which differ from each other only by the sign of the helix, is nonzero, and it becomes substantial in the diffraction reflection region. A unique property of these systems is the degeneracy (coincidence) of eigenpolarizations.