LC vision

摘要

The thin layers of homogeneously oriented nematic liquid crystals (NLC) applied on an optical quality surface as a free film may visualize through a polarizing microscope the images of microrelief or structural defects of the surfaces and also the distribution of mechanical, electric, magnetic fields, etc. The basic theory was developed to describe the image formation process and its relation to physical, chemical, and design film parameters. On this basis a new nondestructive method to study surfaces of different materials has been developed. The application areas of this NLC technique are discussed.