Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
new electro-optic effect based on guest-host interactions in nematic liquid crystals is described. The cooperative alignment of a nematic liquid crystal in an electric field is used to orient “guest” pleochroic dye molecules (molecules whose absorption spectrum is a function of the molecular orientation with respect to the polarization of the incident light). Electronic color switching was achieved using fields of the order of 10 kV/cm (dc through audio) with a variety of dyes. A detailed study of the optical density changes as a function of field strength and dye concentration for one guest-host system is also presented.
Heilmeier et al. (1969) studied this question.