Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

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.