Light Scattering Effects in a Randomly Arranged Liquid Crystal Microlens Array

Abstract

An axially symmetric non-uniform electric field is produced in a liquid crystal cell with a hole-pattern electrode structure, and a lens-like property ; that is, a liquid crystal microlens is created by the molecular orientation effects in the non-uniform electric field. This lens-like property can be widely changed by varying the applied voltage, and the focal length of this liquid crystal microlens is so short that light scattering properties are obtained. A scattering type of display device can be attained by fabricating a number of microlenses in a cell. By arranging the liquid crystal microlenses randomly, interference effects can be eliminated and the quality of images observed through the liquid crystal cell is greatly improved, compared to a well-ordered microlens array.