Photoalignment of liquid crystals using poly(vinylstilbazolium) polymers

• Main Authors: WELTER THOMAS R, TEEGARDEN DAVID M, SHUKLA DEEPAK
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 06.01.2009
• Subjects: CHEMISTRY; COMPOSITIONS BASED THEREON; 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; FREQUENCY-CHANGING; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS OBTAINED BY REACTIONS ONLY INVOLVINGCARBON-TO-CARBON UNSATURATED BONDS; METALLURGY; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICS; ORGANIC MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS; PHYSICS; 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; THEIR PREPARATION OR CHEMICAL WORKING-UP

The present invention relates to a photoalignable material comprising a photoactive stilbazolium-containing polymer of formula I: wherein, Ma, Mb, Mc are monomer units making up the polymer; x, y, z, are mole fractions of the monomer units Ma, Mb, Mc, wherein in each case 0<x<=1; 0<=y<1, 0<=z<1; Sa and Sb are spacer units; Za is a stilbazolium unit which can undergo photochemical isomerization/dimerization reactions; Zb is a stilbazole unit, and n varies from 4 to 10,000. The present invention also relates to a display using a layer of the photoaligned material and methods for aligning the orientation layer as well as orienting a liquid crystal layer applied to the photoaligned orientation layer.