Friedericksz Threshold in Bipolar Nematic Droplets with Rigidly Fixed Poles

We have studied experimentally a problem of the threshold behavior of Friedericksz transition in bipolar nematic droplets with rigidly fixed poles. The dependence of the light transmission of the PDLC film on the applied voltage has obviously revealed a threshold for the straightforward passing beam, confirming the threshold behavior of reorientation process in a central part of the droplet, which was theoretically predicted in [5]. In agreement with a simulation [5] the dependencies of scattering light intensity versus voltage have showed the nonthreshold behavior. We have checked-up also the interference origin of the oscillations of volt-contrast curves for these PDLC films. A number of oscillations and their amplitude depend on wavelength and films thickness.