Kamil Orzechowski featured ILCS liquid crystal artist, October 2021

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Kamil Orzechowski is currently an assistant professor at the Faculty of Physics of the Warsaw University of Technology in the Fiber Optic Photonics group led by Prof. Tomasz R. Woliński. He focuses on the spectral characterization of microstructured photonic crystal fibers filled with liquid crystals under the influence of external fields. His research interest covers optical and electro-optical properties of cholesteric liquid crystals in blue phases, also doped with metallic nanoparticles, for sensing, switching and tunable filter applications.

Kamil Orzechowski's research articles are available at:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kamil-Orzechowski

E-mail: kamil.orzechowski('at')pw.edu.pl
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It is a polarized-light optical microscope image of polymer-stabilized blue-phase liquid crystals near BP - isotropic phase transition. Here, a 20um-thick LC-cell with homogeneous boundary conditions was used. A lattice of non-oriented BP crystals with various vivid colours was received due to rapidly cooling the sample from the isotropic phase passing through BP phases, while the UV polymerization procedure was applied from the beginning of the investigation. The image was taken at room temperature under crossed polarizers.
Jury comment: The picture shows a beautiful texture of a polymer-stabilized blue-phase liquid crystals near BP - isotropic phase transition.