An efficient optical method to detect phase transitions in liquid crystals

摘要

Phase transitions in liquid crystals can be detected by polarizing microscopy, even if the transition enthalpy is extremely low. We describe an efficient way of transforming microscopic video images to a scalar signal. The temperature dependence of this signal is compared to DSC measurements for two standard compounds. The results indicate that this kind of optical investigation is suitable as a standard tool to measure the transition temperatures of liquid crystals.