Unusual Phenomena in Cholesteric Mesophases

Unusual Phenomena in Cholesteric Mesophases

An ordered phase of indeterminate structure occurs in the cholesteric mesophase in liquid crystalline DNA samples exposed to high magnetic fields. This phase exhibits a high degree of birefringence with higher order colors that suggests a complex structure that does not appear to occur in the absence of the magnetic field. The magnification in the photomicrograph above is approximately 200x, and the image was recorded on Fujichrome 64T transparency film using a Nikon Optiphot-Pol microscope with crossed polarized illumination. Exposures were recorded about 2 f-steps under the recommended value given by an in-camera photomultiplier and were push-processed approximately 1.25 f-steps in the first E-6 developer.

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