The present invention relates to a method for fabricating a heat dissipating apparatus. The method uses an assumed decay formula for the induced refractive index difference indicating how the induced refractive index difference decays over time, the assumed decay formula having parameters that depend on temperature. The lyotropic liquid crystal systems may be deposited on substrates for use in a wide variety of commercial applications. In some embodiments, the component may be a processor, heat sink, video chip, memory module, voltage regulator module, etc.