Electrooptical Kerr constant and third-order susceptibility measurements in nematic liquid crystals and their mixtures

We report for the first time the determination of the real part of the third order nonlinear susceptibilities χ(3) (-ω, ω, 0, 0) in the isotropic phase of two nematic liquid crystals p-(ethoxybenzylidine)-p-butylaniline (EBBA) and p-(methoxybenzylidene)-p-butylaniline (MBBA) from electrooptic Kerr effect experiments. The highest value of χ(3) observed near nematic-to-isotropic transition temperature, at 632.8 nm is found to be 1.067×10-20 m2V-2 for EBBA and 6.602×10-20 m2V-2 for MBBA. © 1992 Chapman & Hall.