Chi Lee featured ILCS liquid crystal artist, September 2020

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Chi Lee is currently a master degree student at the Department of Physics, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung City, Taiwan and is working in the research group of Professor Hui-Yu Chen (Liquid Crystal Materials Research Lab at NCHU). My research interest is to investigate the method to generate a large monodomain cubic BPII and discuss the anisotropic deformation in BPII.

Website of the research group of Professor Hui-Yu Chen:

https://sites.google.com/site/lcmrlintw/home

Contact emails: richerlee860330@gmail.com, huiyuchen@email.nchu.edu.tw
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The sample of blue-phase liquid crystal is prepared by mixing nematic and the left-hand chiral dopant. The mixture is filled into a cell without surface treatment. We cool the sample from isotropic phase with cooling rate 2 K/min to blue phase. Initially, blue phase shows green color. As reducing the temperature, in the central area of the green lattices, the blue and red color come out. The growth process lets blue phase look like colorful bubbles. The picture is taken by a transmittance microscope with cross polarizers, and the objective lens is 10X.
Jury comment: The "emerging bubbles" or possibly "flower buds" look very attractive and are a beautiful manifestation of the formation of a blue phase.