Instantaneous mapping of liquid crystal orientation using a polychromatic polarizing microscope

ABSTRACT

Polarising microscopy brought about many advancements in the science of liquid crystals and other soft materials, including those of biological origin. Recent developments in optics and computer-based analysis have enabled a new generation of quantitative polarising microscopy which produces spatial maps of the optic axis. Unfortunately, most of the available approaches require a long acquisition time of multiple images which are then analysed to produce the map. We describe a polychromatic polarising microscope, which allows one to map the patterns of the optical axis in a single-shot exposure, thus enabling a fast temporal resolution. We present a comparative analysis of the new microscope with alternative techniques such as a conventional polarising optical microscope and MicroImager of Hinds Instruments.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Polarising microscope
• 2-D birefringence
• retardance
• liquid crystals
• molecular orientation
• optical anisotropy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The work is supported by NSF grant [DMS-2106675] (OL), NIGMS/NIH grant [R01GM101701] (MS), and Inoue Endowment Fund (MS).