alignment experiments were conducted using a mechano-optical rheometer
(Anton Paar Physica MCR301 with SIPLI attachment). Measurements were
performed using a plate–plate geometry composed of a 25 mm
polished steel plate and a fused quartz plate connected to a variable
temperature Peltier system. The gap between plates was set at 0.50
mm for all experiments. An additional Peltier hood was used to ensure
good control of the sample temperature. Sample illumination was achieved
using an Edmund Optics 150 W MI-150 high-intensity fiber-optic white
light source. The polarizer and analyzer axes were crossed at 90°
in order to obtain polarized light images (PLIs), which were recorded
using a color CCD camera (Lumenera Lu165c).