Acquisition and Development of Fast Confocal Polarizing Microscope for Liquid Crystal Materials Research and Education

这笔赠款支持肯特州立大学购买和开发用于液晶(LC)材料的快速共聚焦偏光显微镜的研究和教育。该项目的目标是将最近发展起来的定向顺序三维无损成像技术扩展到实时扫描的时间域，以研究具有1微米空间分辨率的毫秒级时间尺度的过程。这种新的显微镜将显著提高研究人员和教育工作者对现代材料中分子排列及其集体动力学的复杂世界的洞察力，具有极大的基础和应用兴趣。随着高速成像技术的发展，它在表征液晶胶体和液晶聚合物复合材料、光子晶体、生物传感器等新材料的结构、性质和性能以及复杂几何结构的传统材料(如具有3D指向矢缺陷的液晶)中将是不可或缺的。由于这些材料中的许多都是新的，研究得还不够深入，该仪器将带来基本性质的发现。这将对液晶显示器、波控器件和光开关等实用器件的发展有很大的帮助。将这种显微镜用于实时细菌检测的开发将对公众的安全和健康做出贡献。该仪器将安装在肯特州立大学(KSU)的液晶研究所(LCI)，这是一个公认的中心，拥有完善的基础设施，将基础和应用研究与强大的产业合作计划和各级教育计划相结合。物理、化学、生物和跨学科项目的研究生和本科生将受益，参加外展项目的本科生暑期学生和K-12学生也将受益。这一新能力将使教育工作者能够展示现代材料和设备中基本现象的物理本质。

This grant provides support for the acquisition and development of a fast confocal polarizing microscope for liquid crystal (LC) materials research and education at Kent State University. The goal of this project is to expand the recently developed technique of three-dimensional (3D) non-destructive imaging of orientational order into the time domain of real-time scanning to study processes at the millisecond time scale with spatial resolution of 1 micrometer. This new microscope will significantly sharpen the insight of researchers and educators into the complex word of molecular arrangements and their collective dynamics in modern materials and is of great fundamental and applied interest. With high speed imaging it will be indispensable in characterization of structure, properties, and performance of new materials such as LC-colloidal and LC-polymer composites, photonic crystals, biosensors, as well as the traditional materials in complex geometries (for example, LCs with 3D director defects). As many of these materials are new and not well studied, the instrument will bring discoveries of fundamental properties. It will be of great help in development of practical devices such as LC displays, beam steering devices and optical switches. Using this microscope in the development of real-time bacterial detection would be a contribution to the safety and health of the public. The instrument will be installed at the Liquid Crystal Institute (LCI), Kent State University (KSU), a recognized center with well-developed infrastructure combining fundamental and applied research with strong industrial partnership program and with strong educational programs at all levels. Graduate and undergraduate students in physics, chemistry, biology and interdisciplinary programs will benefit, as will undergraduate summer students and K-12 students involved in outreach programs. This new capability will allow the educators to demonstrate the physical essence of fundamental phenomena in modern materials and devices.