Liquid Crystal Images Images of liquid crystal phases as seen through a polarizing microscope. All images are copyright protected. Please contact individual scientist for permission to use image. We look at it under a polarized light in a microscope fitted with a heating stage.
Crystals show optical birefringence under polarized light.
The thickness of the sample usually has the greatest effect on the colors that are seen. A liquid crystal phase acts like a single crystal when polarized light is passed through it. When an organic compound is placed on a microscope slide with a cover slip and the slide is heated and viewed using the high magnification of the microscope, textures characteristic of each type of liquid crystal can occur. Cooling the liquid can also yield these textures when liquid crystal phases are present. If no liquid crystals are present, characteristic textures for crystals occur when the liquid crystallizes.