Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering polarized microscopy of three-dimensional director structures in liquid crystals

We demonstrate three-dimensional vibrational imaging of director structures in liquid crystals using coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering sCARSd polarized microscopy. Spatial mapping of the structures is based on sensitivity of a polarized CARS signal to the orientation of anisotropic molecules in liquid crystals. As an example, we study structures in a smectic material and demonstrate that single-scan CARS and two-photon fluorescence images of molecular orientation patterns are consistent with each other and with the structure model. © 2007 American Institute of Physics. fDOI: 10.1063/1.2800887g