LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY DEVICES

摘要

A liquid crystal display device comprises first and second substrates placed between cross polarisers. Homeotropically aligned orthogonal biaxial smectic liquid crystal molecules are located between the substrates. An electrode drive is arranged on the substrates to cause in-plane switching of the direction of the short axes. The electrode drive comprises a first pair of electrodes which are arranged to generate a first in-plane electric field which is oriented parallel relative to the transmission axis of one of the polarisers, and a second pair of electrodes which are arranged to generate a second in-plane electric field which is oriented so as to deviate from the transmission axis of one of the polarisers. The two pairs of electrodes allow active switching from the bright state to the dark state. The liquid crystal display has a higher contrast ratio and considerably faster switching time than conventional liquid crystal displays.