Vance Williams, featured ILCC liquid crystal artist, November 2010
Web page: www.sfu.ca/~vancew/vew.htm
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.
The photomicrograph shows a dibenzophenazine derivative prepared by Kevin Bozek in the Williams research group. The texture was obtained by slowly cooling the sample from the isotropic phase into its Colh phase. The sample was then mechanically sheared at 10°C below its clearing temperature (~210°C) to create the “fractured” appearance evident in this photograph. 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 990 Coolpix digital camera.
Jury comment: This is a colourful crisp picture that can inspire us as we go into winter.
Jury comment: This is a colourful crisp picture that can inspire us as we go into winter.