We present important new results from light-microscopy and rheometry on a moderately concentrated lyotropic smectic, with and without particulate additives. Shear-treatment aligns the phase rapidly, except for a striking network of oily-streak defects, which anneals out much more slowly. If spherical particles several microns in diameter are dispersed in the lamellar medium, part of the defect network persists under shear-treatment, its nodes anchored on the particles. The sample as prepared has substantial storage and loss moduli, both of which decrease steadily under shear-treatment. Adding particles enhances the moduli and retards their decay under shear. The data for the frequency-dependent storage modulus after various durations of sheartreatment can be scaled to collapse onto a single curve. The elasticity and dissipation in these samples thus arises mainly from the defect network, not directly from the smectic elasticity and hydrodynamics.

The electro-optic response of polymer dispersed liquid-crystal (PDLC) films is reported as a function of frequency and amplitude of the applied voltage and size of the LC droplets. We found that the threshold voltage is minimum and sharpest at frequencies near a few kHz. Visual and optical response studies show that there are two types of PDLC films; type I, which exhibit large partial optical memory, and type II, which quickly regain their original levels of transmittance after switching off relatively small driving voltage. It was observed that both types of PDLC films, in general, exhibit a two-step decay involving fast and slow components. However, the order in which the two components appear as the voltage is increased is different for the two types of PDLC films. Observations under the polarizing microscope show that the LC droplets in the two types of PDLC films undergo different transformations as the applied voltage is changed.

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