Polarized optical microscope with heating stage

光学显微镜是一种常见的放大下检查微小物体的技术。偏振光学显微镜利用偏振光，而不是普通光，研究样品。带加热阶段的偏光显微镜将被用来研究新的液晶材料和微晶固体的性质。这两种类型的材料都是双折射的：偏振光在样品中的传输取决于样品的取向。这种现象的产生是因为组成晶体固体和液晶的分子是有序的，并在特定的方向上取向。双折射使偏振光学显微镜成为研究这些类型的有序材料的重要工具。由于它可以提供关于固体材料中的晶体形式和结晶度的信息，它可以根据显微镜下观察到的织构特征来识别不同类型的液晶相。该设备将用于支持一项研究计划，该计划专注于制备使用可逆化学键组装的新型液晶和晶体材料。该研究计划的主要动机是进一步了解分子是如何自组装的，并控制这种自组装过程。这一创新计划的第二个目标是制造在储氢、催化化学反应、液晶显示器和太阳能电池等领域具有潜在应用的材料。

Optical microscopy is a common technique for the examination of small objects under magnification.  Polarized optical microscopy makes use of polarized light, instead of normal light, to study samples.  The polarized optical microscope with heating stage will be used to study the nature of new liquid crystalline materials as well as microcrystalline solids.  Both of these types of materials are birefringent: the transmission of polarized light through the sample depends on the orientation of the sample.  This phenomenon arises because the molecules that make up crystalline solids and liquid crystalline are ordered and oriented in specific directions.  Birefringence makes polarized optical microscopy an important tool for studying these types of ordered materials.  It can provide information about the crystal form and degree of crystallinity in solid materials, and it can allow the identification of different types of liquid crystal phases by virtue of the textural features observed under the microscope. This equipment will be used to support a research program that focuses on the preparation of new liquid crystalline and crystalline materials that are assembled using reversible chemical bonds.  The primary motivation for this research program is to further understand how molecules self-assemble and to control this self-assembly process.  A second goal of this innovative program is to make materials with potential applications in areas such as hydrogen storage, catalyzing chemical reactions, liquid crystal displays, and solar cells.