BISTABLE NEMATIC LIQUID CRYSTAL DEVICE

摘要

PURPOSE: A bistable nematic liquid crystal device is provided to allow a director to take either one of two tilt angles in directions with practically identical azimuth angles. CONSTITUTION: A bistable nematic liquid crystal device comprises a first cell wall(2) and a second cell wall(4) enclosing a layer of nematic liquid crystal material; electrodes(12,14) for applying an electric field across at least some of the liquid crystal material; and a surface alignment on the inner surface of at least the first cell wall providing alignment to the liquid crystal molecules. The surface alignment includes an array of features(10) which have a shape and/or orientation to induce the director adjacent the features to adopt two different tilt angles in substantially the same azimuthal direction. The arrangement is such that two stable liquid crystal molecular configurations exist after suitable electrical signals have been applied to the electrodes.