Vance Williams, featured ILCC liquid crystal artist, October 2015
Web page: http://sfuwilliamsgroup.weebly.com
Further details of his research can be found at:
• E. Voisin, E. J. Foster, M. Rakotomalala, V. E. Williams, Chem. Mater. (2009), 21, 3251.
• C. Lavigueur, E. J. Foster, V. E. Williams, J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2008) 130, 11791.
• E. J. Foster, R. B. Jones, C. Lavigueur, V. E. Williams, J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2006) 128, 8569.
Smectic F liquid crystal upon cooling from the isotropic phase. The sample was viewed with a 10x objective using an Olympus BX50 polarizing optical microscope equipped with a Linkam LT5350 heating stage and photographed using a Nikon D90 DSLR. Picture width 1mm.
Jury comment: A beautiful interplay between focal conics and mosaic texture typical for higher ordered smectics. The beauty of these textures is almost forgotten now that other phases occupy most of the scientific attention in our field of research.