  Polarizing microscopy brought about many advancements in the science of
liquid crystals and other soft materials, including those of biological origin.
Recent developments in optics and computer-based analysis enabled a new
generation of quantitative polarizing microscopy which produces spatial maps of
the optic axis. Unfortunately, most of the available approaches require a long
acquisition time of multiple images which are then analyzed to produce the map.
We describe a polychromatic polarizing microscope, which allows one to map the
patterns of the optical axis in a single-shot exposure, thus enabling a fast
temporal resolution. We present a comparative analysis of the new microscope
with alternative techniques such as a conventional polarizing optical
microscope and MicroImager of Hinds Instruments.
