Confocal Microscopy of Director Structures in Strongly Confined and Composite Systems

Abstract

We review approaches for simultaneous imaging of three-dimensional director structures and component distributions in composite materials using fluorescence confocal polarizing microscopy. To study dynamic processes in these systems, we use the Nipkow-disk microscope in which the confocal images are obtained within milliseconds. The visualized director fields, free-standing film profiles, and ordered colloidal structures provide insights into the physics phenomena ranging from elasticity-mediated self-organization to anchoring-assisted levitation and dynamics of micron-sized spheres.

Keywords:

• colloid
• defect
• fluorescence confocal polarizing microscopy
• free-standing film
• liquid crystal
• surface anchoring

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the support of the Institute for Complex Adaptive Matter (ICAM) and International Institute for Complex Adaptive Matter (I2CAM), the National Science Foundation, Grant DMR# 0645461 and thank A. Kachynski, O. Lavrentovich, M. Nobili, B. Senyuk, and S. Shiyanovskii for discussions and collaborations.