# Liquid Crystal Phase Transition

- By: KarlGaff
- Date: 2022-10-01
- Classification: Photograph
- Museum: [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Liquid_Crystal_Phase_Transition.jpg)
- Rights: [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/commons/a/a1/Liquid_Crystal_Phase_Transition.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Magnified 100 times, a drop of liquid crystal was dispensed onto a glass plate and a cover slip placed on top. The liquid crystal spreads out into a uniform film under the weight of the cover slip. The image was captured using a microscope configured for crossed polarised light. The colours come about because liquid crystal is birefringent - it changes the polarisation state of the plane-polarised light passing through it. Now, the sort of labyrinthine pattern is caused by a phase transition. The liquid crystal sample is placed on a heat stage and at a particular temperature called the phase transition temperature, the liquid crystal changes from an opaque state to a transparent state, this is the transition front. The image width is about 2mm.