The  paper of  the  month,  chosen  by  the Editor-in-Chief,  is  "Application of Polarizing Optical Microscopy   in   Investigation  of  Crystallization   Kinetics  from  Smectic  C^∗_A  Phase"   by  A. Deptuch, A. Lelito and M. Urbańska;

DOI: 10.12693/APhysPolA.144.93

Liquid crystals are a very interesting class of materials exhibiting a variety of unexpected physical properties. Although studied for over one hundred years their properties are still not fully explored. The present paper deals with the crystallization process, both isothermal and non-isothermal of a compound, which exhibits the smectic synclinic C^∗ and smectic anticlinic C^∗_A phases. With the help of polarization microscopy the authors found a large hysteresis, in the phase transition between the two phases. This phase transition is shifted during cooling almost below the melting temperature of a crystal phase. Thus, the studied compound is an example of liquid crystalline mixtures that exhibit the vitrified syn-clinic Sm C^∗ phase instead of anti-clinic Sm C^∗_A.
In a nice experiment the authors show one more example of complexity and also the beauty of liquid crystals.

The Editor-in-Chief