Dense multicomponent systems with macromolecules and small solutes attract a broad research interest as they mimic the molecularly crowded cellular interiors. The additives can condense and align the macromolecules, but they do not change the degree of covalent polymerization. We chose a lyotropic chromonic liquid crystal with reversibly and non-covalently assembled aggregates as a much softer system, reminiscent of ''living polymers'', to demonstrate that small neutral and charged additives cause condensation of aggregates with ensuing orientational and positional ordering and nontrivial morphologies of phase separation, such as tactoids and toroids of the nematic and hexagonal columnar phase coexisting with the isotropic melt. Scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) with near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) analysis as well as fluorescent microscopy demonstrates segregation of the components. The observations suggest that self-assembly of chromonic aggregates in the presence of additives is controlled by both entropy effects and by specific molecular interactions and provide a new route to the regulated reversible assembly of soft materials formed by low-molecular weight components.

We report the results of studies of torsion effect on the optical birefringence in LiNbO 3 crystals. We have found that twisting of those crystals causes a birefringence distribution revealing non-trivial peculiarities. In particular, it has a special point at the center of cross section perpendicular to the torsion axis where zero birefringence value occurs. It has also been ascertained that the surface of the spatial birefringence distribution has a conical shape, with the cone axis coinciding with the torsion axis.We have revealed that an optical vortex, with the topological charge equal to unity, appears under the torsion of LiNbO 3 crystals. It has been shown that, contrary to the q-plate, both the efficiency of spin-orbital coupling and the orbital momentum of the emergent light can be operated by the torque moment.

We present an analysis of the effect of torsion stresses on the spatial distribution of optical birefringence in crystals of different point symmetry groups. The symmetry requirements needed so that the optical beam carries dislocations of the phase front are evaluated for the case when the crystals are twisted and the beam closely corresponds to a plane wave. It is shown that the torsion stresses can produce screw-edge, pure screw, or pure edge dislocations of the phase front in the crystals belonging to cubic and trigonal systems. The conditions for appearance of canonical and noncanonical vortices in the conditions of crystal torsion are analyzed.

A recently proposed technique representing a combination of digital imaging laser interferometry with a classical four-point bending method is applied to a canonical nonlinear optical crystal, LiNbO₃, to precisely determine a full matrix of its piezo-optic coefficients (POCs). The contribution of a secondary piezo-optic effect to the POCs is investigated experimentally and analyzed theoretically. Based on the POCs thus obtained, a full matrix of strain-optic coefficients (SOCs) is calculated and the appropriate errors are estimated. A comparison of our experimental errors for the POCs and SOCs with the known reference data allows us to claim the present technique as the most precise.

We develop and describe analytically a torsion method for measuring piezooptic coefficients associated with shear stresses. It is shown that the method enables to increase significantly the accuracy of determination of piezooptic coefficients. The method and the appropriate apparatus are verified experimentally on the example of LiNbO 3 crystals.

We have derived the relations describing optical indicatrix changes appearing in crystals of all the point symmetry groups for the different geometries of application of torque moment and light propagation directions.

We analyze polarization singularities of optical beams that propagate through crystals possessing structural dislocations. We show that screw dislocations of crystalline structure can lead to the appearance of purely screw-type dislocations of light wavefronts. This can happen only in crystals that belong to trigonal and cubic systems. These polarization singularities will give rise to optical vortices with the topological charge equal to ±1, whenever a crystal sample is placed between crossed circular polarizers. We have also found that edge dislocations present in the cubic and trigonal crystals, with the Burgers vector perpendicular to the three-fold symmetry axes, can impose mixed screw-edge dislocations in the wavefronts of optical beams and generate singly charged optical vortices. The results of our analysis can be applied for detecting and identifying dislocations of different types available in crystals.

In the present work we describe a high-accuracy torsion method for measuring piezooptic coefficients π 14 and π 25 in trigonal crystals. Spatial distributions of the optical indicatrix orientation and the optical birefringence induced by torsion stresses are quantitatively evaluated and analysed. It is shown that a crystal subjected to torsion stresses works as an optical lens, with the characteristics operated by a torque moment.