The FCPM technique is capable to image 3D patterns of orientational order. Using special dyes and polarized light, with confocal microscopy one can get an access not only to the spatial positional 3D pattern, but also to the 3D pattern of molecular orientation.
The technique is not restricted to thermotropic and lyotropic, nematic and lamellar phases, but is applicable whenever the host for the fluorescent probe is orientationally ordered. Orientational order, at least at local scales, orientational ordering can be featured not only by the classical LCs, but also by other soft-matter systems, and by biological samples. FCPM can be used whenever one is interested in orientational features of molecular organization.
For more detailed account of FCPM technique, see references below.
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