| 摘要 |
An imaging method which is comprised of a spatially varying imagewise output intensity for a corresponding imaging input. An imaging member comprising between two electrodes a photoconductor in contact with an about 1 to about 6 micron thick layer of nematic liquid crystalline material, which in the absence of an electrical field is in the homogeneous texture, and having negative dielectric anisotropy is utilized. A d.c. voltage above the parallel variable grating mode threshold for the nematic liquid crystalline material is applied between the two electrodes of the imaging member and, while the voltage is applied, the photoconductor is exposed to imagewise configured actinic electromagnetic radiation from a first radiation source. The actinic radiation causes the voltage to increase across portions of the nematic liquid crystalline layer in electrical contact with regions of the photoconductor exposed to the actinic radiation. The increase in voltage across these portions of the liquid crystalline material is sufficient to cause cylindrical, vortical domains of molecules of the nematic liquid crystalline material to form with their long axes parallel to the initial direction of homogeneous alignment (a parallel variable grating mode). The spatial frequency of the vortical domains varies dynamically with the intensity of the actinic electromagnetic radiation. From a second radiation source, electromagnetic radiation which is non-actinic to the photoconductor by virtue of either the photoconductor or imaging member structure, is modified by the imagewise configured liquid crystalline texture resulting in a projection image of second source radiation corresponding to the imagewise configured first source electromagnetic radiation.
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