POLYMER ENHANCED CHOLESTERIC ELECTRO-OPTICAL DEVICES

• Main Authors: KIM SANG HWA, CHIEN LIANGY, SHI LEI
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 04.03.2010
• Subjects: ADHESIVES; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING; CHEMISTRY; DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS, THE OPTICAL OPERATION OF WHICH ISMODIFIED BY CHANGING THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIUM OF THEDEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF THE INTENSITY,COLOUR, PHASE, POLARISATION OR DIRECTION OF LIGHT, e.g.SWITCHING, GATING, MODULATING OR DEMODULATING; DYES; FREQUENCY-CHANGING; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; LAYERED PRODUCTS; LAYERED PRODUCTS, i.e. PRODUCTS BUILT-UP OF STRATA OF FLAT ORNON-FLAT, e.g. CELLULAR OR HONEYCOMB, FORM; MATERIALS FOR MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATIONS, NOT PROVIDED FORELSEWHERE; METALLURGY; MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATIONS OF MATERIALS; MISCELLANEOUS COMPOSITIONS; NATURAL RESINS; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICS; PAINTS; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICS; POLISHES; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDEDFOR; SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TECHNIQUES OR PROCEDURES FOR THE OPERATION THEREOF; TRANSPORTING; WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE, IN GENERAL

The present invention provides liquid crystal devices comprised of a composite of an internal polymer network localized on the substrate surfaces and short-pitch dual-frequency switchable cholesteric liquid crystal that operate in two different modes including in-plane switching (amplitude modulation) and out-of-plane switching (phase modulation). The invention further provides a method of making a liquid crystal device demonstrating uniform lying helical axis where the device comprises a composite of an internal spatially ordered polymer network localized by in-situ photo-polymerization at the surface of the substrate. The invention can be used for flat panel displays, as well as spatial light modulators for applications such as optical waveguides, optical beam scanners, computer-generated holograms, and adaptive optics.