Liquid crystals are beautiful and their science is intriguing. This book will take you on a photographic tour of the visual diversity of liquid crystals and describes, for a general audience, their role in technology and biology.

Despite many of us staring at liquid crystals – in the form of liquid-crystal displays – for large portions of our waking life, for many, their science and beauty is an untold story full of surprise and wonder. This book takes you on a photographic journey through the science of liquid crystals. By the end, you’ll be familiar with what they are, how they form and their role in producing the complexity of life on Earth. Presented in non-technical language, without any mathematics, this accessible text looks at spider webs, silk, display technology, lasers, dyes, detergents, DNA, cell membranes, drug-delivery mechanisms, anaesthesia and optical computing.

1 Introduction

2 What is a Liquid Crystal?

3 Light

4 Nematic Liquid Crystals

5 Long Pitch Cholesteric Liquid Crystals

6 Short Pitch Cholesteric Liquid Crystals

7 Blue Phases, Smectics and Lyotropics

8 Discotic and Columnar Liquid Crystals

9 Conclusion