Computer and television screens could get a major upgrade thanks to a recent finding with liquid crystal.
University of Massachusetts Amherst mathematician Robert Kusner teamed up with researchers at the University of Colorado to conduct three-dimensional liquid crystal experiments. According to a press release, “The work is expected to lead to creation of new materials that can be actively controlled.”
By injecting small amounts of various solutions into a liquid crystal, they found the behavior of the solution was predictable. Kusner stated in the press release that the team could “predict what patterns should be seen when experimental conditions are changed.”
Smalyukh, one of the UC Boulder researchers, said the discovery makes it possible to “use these theorems in designing new composite materials with unique properties that cannot be encountered in nature or synthesized by chemists,” according to the press release.
“These findings lay the groundwork for new applications in experimental studies of low-dimensional topology, with important potential ramifications for many branches of science and technology,” Smalyukh stated, noting that the finding could lead to upgraded liquid crystal display (LCD) screens in televisions and laptops that let them interact with light in new ways.
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