Optical Properties of a Two-Stage Oppositely Rotated Liquid Crystal Retarder System: A Monte Carlo and Mueller Matrix Study
Abstract
We present a computational study of a two-stage liquid crystal (LC) retarder system composed of oppositely rotated planar-aligned LC layers placed between three linear polarizers. The molecular orientations of the LC molecules (LCMs) are modeled using Monte Carlo (MC) simulations based on the Lebwohl–Lasher and Rapini–Papoular potentials. The resulting director configurations are used as input for Mueller matrix-based optical analysis to compute polarization-dependent transmittance across the visible spectrum. We systematically explore the effects of rotation angle, cell thickness, and wavelength on the system’s transmission characteristics. Particular attention is given to red (700 nm), green (546.1 nm), and blue (435.8 nm) (RGB) light components, demonstrating polarization-sensitive spectral filtering and angular tunability. Our findings highlight the system’s potential for use in compact optical filters, RGB channel isolation, and polarization-sensitive imaging applications.
Keywords
Monte Carlo simulation, liquid crystal retarder, polarization optics, Mueller matrix, tunable optical filter, birefrengence
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