Optical Modelling

We have three different models which we commonly use, the Jones, the Berreman and the Grating Method.

For most applications the LC director varies slowly with respect to the wavelength of light. The Jones method is a fast and effective means to calculate the optical propagation through polarisers and the LC layers. The extended Jones method is an extension to describe oblique incidence.

If there is significant reflection between layers the Berreman should be used instead of the Jones method. When there is a rapid lateral variation of the director field, diffractive effects become significant. The Jones and Berreman methods are essentially 1D methods, that don't take into account these effects. In such cases we use a Reduced Grating Method, which is a variation of the standard Grating Method that uses subspace projection to reduce the order of the problem.

This page last modified 2 June, 2006 by r.james