Featured Liquid Crystal Picture Art of the Month

July 2021

©Sepideh Norouzi

A leaf of fern-dendritic growth in nematic liquid crystals

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Description

This is a cross-polarized in reflection mode image of stabilized blue phase liquid crystal microdroplets. The blue phase liquid crystal microdroplets contain UV reactive premixture which is stabilized by photopolymerization. Blue phase liquid crystals are thermodynamically stable over narrow ranges of temperature (1-2 °C). After stabilization, however, they show the extended temperature range including the room temperature. Both BPI (green color) and BPII (blue color) phases are stabilized in microdroplets.

Author

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Sepideh Norouzi is a Ph.D. student from the University of South Carolina. She is doing research under the supervision of Dr. Monirosadat (Sanaz) Sadati. Her research focuses on blue phase liquid crystal, and she used the combined geometrical confinement and polymerization to manipulate blue phase structure and stability range.

Email: snorouzi@email.sc.edu

Research Group Website: https://www.sadatilab.com

Jury comment

The picture represents a beautiful pattern formed in blue phase liquid crystal droplets.
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