Optical characteristics of a layer of cholesteric liquid crystal between dielectric plates of finite thickness and analysis for a filled Fabry–Perot resonator

A boundary problem involving the transmission of light through a layer of cholerteric liquid crystal (CLC) between glass plates of finite thickness is solved numerically. Attention is focused on the differences between the solutions obtained for the amplitude and polarization characteristics of the light and the familiar solutions. Where possible, the calculated dependences are compared with published experimental data. It is found that these solutions must be taken into account when obtaining quantitative data on the parameters of CLC's from experiments. An interesting effect is “bleaching” of the polarization in a CLC observed for the first time. This method of solution made it possible to analyze for the first time the characteristics of a CLC-filled Fabry–Perot resonator. This analysis was also made qualitatively allowing for the nonlinear optical properties of CLC's. These resonators not only have scalar modes (in terms of frequency) but also polarized modes, providing additional selection of the polarization of the transmitted light. Moreover, as the resonator $Q$ factor increases, loss of “memory” of the polarization azimuth of the incident light occurs. These systems may be used to develop a wide range of CLC laser optical elements.