If a device that could simultaneously determine birefringence and orientation angle as a 2D image at high speed were to exist, many research problems would be easier to solve.
For example, the flow birefringence observation method for a two-dimensional flow field of a polymer fluid is a technique developed several decades ago.
However, previous methods involving counting stripes to obtain phase differences greater than the measurement wavelengths, required a fluid with extremely strong birefringence and a flow path with a long optical path length, lacked sensitivity.
Using CRYSTA, the research team was able to measure the flow birefringence distribution of a viscoelastic fluid in a microchannel very easily, without the constraints evoked above. Furthermore, combined with micro PIV, simultaneous measurement of velocity and stress fields was possible, which is pretty impressive.