Novel bistable liquid crystal displays based on grating alignment

John Clifford Jones; Guy P. Bryan-Brown; Emma L. Wood; Alistair Graham; Pete Brett; Jonathon R. Hughes

doi:10.1117/12.379969

17 March 2000 Novel bistable liquid crystal displays based on grating alignment

John Clifford Jones, Guy P. Bryan-Brown, Emma L. Wood, Alistair Graham, Pete Brett, Jonathon R. Hughes

Proceedings Volume 3955, Liquid Crystal Materials, Devices, and Flat Panel Displays; (2000) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.379969
Event: Electronic Imaging, 2000, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

The ability of surface relief gratings to align liquid crystals has been known for many years. Renewed interest has recently been stimulated through the invention of novel devices in which the grating gives the additional benefit of bistability. This allows complex images to be retained without constant updating, and without the need for Thin Film Transistors at each pixel. Two types of bistable liquid crystal have been demonstrated: azimuthal bistability using bi-gratings, and zenithal bistability using gratings that give surface alignment to the liquid crystal director parallel to the local surface normal. The latter type is called ZBD and gives exceptional performance compared to all other bistable display technologies. This is because the nematic liquid crystal has different tilts in the direction of the applied field, allowing latching times of better than 40 microseconds (at 30 V) and switching thresholds below 10 V. The orientation of the liquid crystal is not required to change at the surface when switching between the two states and so there are no problems with image sticking. Also, the bistability is surface induced, which makes the states exceptionally tolerant to mechanical stress. An 83 by 90 pixel display is demonstrated, illustrating the potential of this exciting new technology.

Citation Download Citation

John Clifford Jones, Guy P. Bryan-Brown, Emma L. Wood, Alistair Graham, Pete Brett, and Jonathon R. Hughes "Novel bistable liquid crystal displays based on grating alignment", Proc. SPIE 3955, Liquid Crystal Materials, Devices, and Flat Panel Displays, (17 March 2000); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.379969

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