The crystal acts like a conventional crystal ball within the scope of the written stories, although more diverse uses are implied.

The crystals act as microlenses that focus and direct light, and the researchers said they would be useful for telecommunications or optical computing.

So, do liquid crystals act like solids or liquids or something else?

These crystals act as prisms, bending the light rays passing through them with a minimum deflection of 22 .

When the light passes back through the liquid crystals, the crystals act as light valves to create the light and dark areas of the picture.

The crystals dissolved and acted as a mild bleach.

The smaller crystals act as fuel for the growth of bigger crystals.

These small crystals will act as a "seed" for growing the larger ones.

The crystal acts as a perfect superconductor, absorbing energy so completely that most methods for scanning for its presence would fail.

The second crystal (T) acts as a transmission mirror and causes the beams to converge one towards another.