Study of polarization state of the transmitted light through the cholesteric liquid crystal

In this paper we describe a new Jones matrix, in which the matrix element is the complex exponential. Using this matrix we theoretically study the properties of the cholesteric liquid crystal. It is found that the left-hand circular polarized light of wavelength being equal to pitch of the cholesteric liquid crystal is totally reflected when it propagates along its helical axis and that the right-hand circular polarized light simply transmitted. We also analyze the polarization state of the transmitted light through the cholesteric liquid crystal with different optical pitch. The theoretical analysis shows that the polarization state of the transmitted light will change after the polarized light pass through the cholesteric liquid crystal. Furthermore, we also explain the reason of the selective reflecting of cholesteric liquid crystal for visible light.