How the optical density of a polymeric gel filled with a liquid crystal depends on the pore size of the matrix and the temperature

A new system of liquid-crystal composites has been obtained, consisting of a porous polyacrylonitrile gel with the low-molecular-weight nematic liquid crystal (LC) N-(4-methoxybenzylidene)-4-butylaniline introduced into the pores. The optical properties of the LC composites have been studied as a function of the temperature and the pore size of the polymeric material. It is shown that the LC composites remain opaque all the way to the...