Reversible tunability crystals

M. Mathews, N. Tamaoki, Reversibly tunable helicity induction and inversion in liquid crystal self-assembly by a planar chiropdc trigger molecule. Chem. Commun. 3609-3611 (2009)... 

The PR effect was first observed in 1966 as an undesirable effect in an EO crystal, LiNb03 [1], It was soon realized that this effect is reversible and its PR mechanism was then identified [2,3], These PR materials can be applied to high-capacity optical memories, dynamic hologram formations, massive interconnections, high-speed tunable filters, and true-time relay lines for phase array... 

While we have only focused here on applications for DNA electrophoresis, colloidal crystals have also been used as a stationary phase for separating hydrophobic dyes and proteins [40]. The arrays may prove especially interesting for electrophoretic protein separations, since the pore size provides a steric constraint, no pressure drop is required for transport through the small pores and the bead surfaces serve as a substrate for reversed-phase adsorption. These arrays thus offer a tunable variety of separation mechanisms. Indeed, proteins with similar hydrophobic groups, which cannot be separated by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) due to their similar adsorption properties, are rapidly separated by charge in colloidal arrays [40]. 

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