Fig. 2: Alignment transition upon heating a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) shell stabilized by polyvinylalcohol (PVA). | Nature Communications

Fig. 2: Alignment transition upon heating a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) shell stabilized by polyvinylalcohol (PVA).

From: Tunable templating of photonic microparticles via liquid crystal order-guided adsorption of amphiphilic polymers in emulsions

Fig. 2

Transmission POM images (from Supplementary Movie 1) of a shell of the CLC base mixture stabilized by 86–87% hydrolyzed PVA heated from room temperature to T = 73.7 °C, where it is fully isotropic. The heating rate changes across three ranges: 5 °C/min for T = 25−65 °C, 1 °C/min for T = 65−69 °C, and 0. 3 °C/min for T = 69−74 °C. The shell is between crossed polarizers (orientations indicated in a) and the focus is at the equator of the shell in a–d, then changing to the bottom surface in e–h. The brightness of the photo in h has been digitally enhanced to facilitate the detection of the shell boundary, otherwise difficult since the shell is here isotropic. Scale bar: 50 μm.

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