Analysis of Liquid Crystal Orientation at Interface between LC and Alignment Film by Total Reflection Ellipsometry

Abstract

The total reflection ellipsometry has been applied to investigate the behavior of Liquid Crystal(LC) molecules at the interface between LC and alignment film. The total reflection method allows to use LC cell which is not doped with dichroic dye and to observe the reflected light, which includes the imformation about the LC molecular behavoir at inaterface. From the numerical results of the reflection ellipsometry, it was found that, the phase difference versus applied voltage depends on an incident angle, a wavelengh of incident light, and the thickness of an alignment film. This analytical method is sensible enough to estimate the anchoring strength of LC cells.