On the inner curvature of the second fundamental form of helicoidal surfaces

Let M be a helicoidal surface in E ³, free of points of vanishing Gaussian curvature. Let H be the mean curvature and K _II the curvature of the second fundamental form. In this note it is shown that the helicoidal surfaces satisfying K _II =H are locally characterized by constancy of the ratio of the principal curvatures. Moreover it is proved that these helicoidal surfaces are determined by a first order differential equation. Research supported by E.E.C. contract CHRX-CT92-0050.