1A18 Bend-alignment nematic liquid crystal cell stabilized by polymer walls

Abstract

We propose a novel bend-alignment liquid crystal cell with polymer walls structure, which can stabilize bend-state. The polymer-walls-stabilized bend cell was fabricated by the photo-polymerization-induced phase separation and electric field with molecular alignment. As the mixed solution of the liquid crystalline monomer and LC sandwiched between two substrates was applied electric field and irradiated with ultraviolet light through a photomask, the monomer aligned with LC molecules was polymerized. As a result, aligned polymer walls depending on the mask pattern stabilize the bend-alignment of LC. This fabrication process can separate the liquid crystal and aligned polymer regions. The fabricated device exhibits great potential for display applications, such as no need of the initialized voltage to transit from splay-state to bend-state, and no operating bias voltage above the threshold to keep the bend-state. In this paper, we discuss the fabrication process and features of the polymer-walls-stabilized bend cell.