We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Vladimir Chigrinov has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Section “Liquid Crystals” in Crystals (ISSN: 2073-4352).

This Section is dedicated to providing a high-quality and rapid publication forum for scientists and engineers working in liquid crystals and other related fields, where they can exchange knowledge and increase the visibility of their studies in related areas of science and technology. Contributions, such as original research articles, reviews, letters, and communications, on all aspects of liquid crystals, will be considered.

Prof. Dr. Vladimir G. Chigrinov is an expert in flat panel technology in Russia. He was recognized by the World Technology Evaluation Centre in 1994, and has been an SID Fellow since 2008. He is an author of 6 books, 25 reviews and book chapters, 320 journal papers, more than 656 conference presentations, and 35 US patents in the field of liquid crystals since 1974. He received the Excellent Research Award of HKUST School of Engineering in 2012. He has been a Member of the EU Academy of Sciences (EUAS) since July 2017. He received the Slottow–Owaki Prize of SID in 2018. He was the 2019 Distinguished Fellow of the International Engineering and Technology Institute.

The following is a short Q&A with Prof. Dr. Vladimir Chigrinov, who shared his vision for the Section with us as well as his views on the research area and open access publishing:

1. What appealed to you about the journal that made you want to become its Section Editor-in-Chief?
I strongly respect MDPI for its wonderful review and original publication process. This is a great honor for me to become an Editor-in-Chief of the “Liquid Crystal” Section. I hope to get more valuable publications from my colleagues and collaborators in liquid crystal research.

2. What is your vision for the Section?
I believe we need to publish recent advances in liquid crystal research and their applications in displays and photonics. We need to unite the efforts of liquid crystal researchers to successfully compete with other technologies like OLED and MicroLed. Special attention should be paid to liquid crystal photonic devices, which are used for optical data processing: sensors, lenses, q-plates, beam-steering devices, smart windows, reconfigurable antennas, etc. We should unite the efforts of chemists, physicists, and electronic and optic researchers in making new liquid crystal devices with optimal characteristics for new advanced applications.

3. What does the future of this field of research look like?
The future of liquid crystal research is new materials such as ferroelectric liquid crystals, new technologies, e.g., photoalignment and photopatterning, and new applications in displays and photonics.
We should outline: (i) new trends in liquid crystal electronics and optical devices addressing modern TFT technologies; (ii) new applications of liquid crystal displays such as avionics, biomedical devices, terahertz imaging, AR/VR, and E-paper; (iii) LC applications in photonics such as those that are emerging in telecommunication, fiber optical communication systems, sensors, switchable lenses, LC light converters, switches, polarization rotators, variable optical attenuators, etc., which can successfully compete with micro-electromechanical systems (MEMSs), as well as with thermo-optical, opto-mechanical, or acousto-optical devices; (iv) liquid crystal devices on plastic substrates; and (v) holographic liquid crystal devices for 3D imaging and security applications.

4. Do you have any suggestions for young researchers in this field?
Young researchers should understand the basic principles of liquid crystal chemistry, physics and applications and try to make new devices for displays and photonics. If their research is based on new developments, I am sure it will be successful. I wish them great success in their research and in receiving awards from prestigious international conferences.

5. What do you think of the development of open access in the publishing field?
This is a great idea. It will make MDPI more useful and popular and increase its citation index.

We wish Prof. Dr. Vladimir Chigrinov every success in his new position and we look forward to his contributions to the journal.