Iridescent layers

The cholesteric phase maybe considered a modification of the nematic phase since its molecular stmcture is similar. The cholesteric phase is characterized by a continuous change in the direction of the long axes of the molecules in adjacent layers within the sample. This leads to a twist about an axis perpendicular to the long axes of the molecules. If the pitch of the heHcal stmcture is the same as a wavelength of visible light, selective reflection of monochromatic light can be observed in the form of iridescent colors. 

Pearlescent pigments give rise to a white pearl effect often accompanied by a coloured iridescence. The most important pearlescent pigments consist of thin platelets of mica coated with titanium dioxide which partly reflect and partly transmit incident light. Simultaneous reflection from many layers of oriented platelets creates the sense of depth which is characteristic of pearlescent lustre and, where the particles are of an appropriate thickness, colours are produced by interference phenomena. Pearlescent pigments are used in automotive finishes, plastics and cosmetics. 

Colour variable pigments in our Variocrom range are made of pi-large aluminium flakes which are covered by several layers of Si02 and Fe203, each a few hundred nanometers thick. This multi-layer plate-like structure produces an angle dependent, iridescent colour play. The Si02-layer with a... 

The pearlescent effect in natural pearls arises because of the interaction of incident light with alternating layers of high refractive index (CaCOj) and low refractive index (protein), reflected and diffracted light from which leads to the observed iridescent colours. 

A range of fibres marketed by Meadowbrook Inventions Inc. produce their iridescence in fibres by a tme light interference effect. This is achieved by constmcting the fibre from polymers having different refractive indices, similar to that which results from interference in thin multi-layers of polymer fllms. ... 

Nacreous and Interference Pigments. The optical principles of nacreous (interference) pigments are shown in Figure 72 for a simplified case of nearly normal incidence without multiple reflection and absorption. At the interface P, between two materials with refractive indices n t and n2, part of the beam of light L, is reflected (L,) and partially transmitted (i.e., refracted) (L2). The intensity ratios depend on n, and n2. In a multilayer arrangement, as found in pearl or pearlescent and iridescent materials (Fig. 71 C), each interface produces partial reflection. After penetration through several layers, depending on the size and difference between n1 and n2,... 

In practice, platelet crystals are synthesized with a layer thickness d calculated to produce the desired interference colors (iridescence) [5.206], [5.207], Most nacreous pigments now consist of at least three layers of two materials with different refractive indices (Fig. 73). Thin flakes (thickness ca. 500 nm) of a material with a low refractive index (mica) are coated with a highly refractive metal oxide (e.g., Ti02, layer thickness ca. 50-150 nm). This results in particles with four interfaces that constitute a more complicated but still predictable thin film system. The behavior of more... 

IRIDESCENCE. The exhibition of tlte colors of the rainbow, commonly by interference of light of the various wavelengths reflected front superficial layers in the surface of a substance. 

Coatings derived from cholesteric liquid crystalline polymers are used commercially as reflective sheets and polarisers. The liquid crystal is cooled below the vitrification temperature resulting in a solid polymer that is amorphous but contains large regions of frozen liquid crystalline order. Such structures are also found in nature in the iridescent, almost metallic colours of beetles and other insects, which result from helical cholesteric structures in the outer layer of the carapace. 

The degraded film specimens often impart an iridescent color. This effect may be attributed to the interference of visible light due to diffused reflection between the protuberances formed on the surface of the films, which is interpretable in terms of a thin-layered gradation of the refractive index near the film surface. 

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