Electro flat-panel displays

Nematic phase this is the simplest structure. It is the most disordered mesophase and therefore very fluid. It is called N. In the nematic phase, the molecules are ordered mainly in one dimension with their long axes parallel, and they are free to move parallel to this axis (there is no long-range order). Nematic liquid crystal mixtures, containing various amounts of different liquid crystal compounds, are used in electro-optic display systems such as flat-panel displays. 

Pfeiffer M, Forrest S R, Leo K, and Thompson M E, Electro phosphorescent p-i-n organic hght-emitting devices for very-high-efficiency flat-panel displays, Adv. Mater., 14... 

This section reviews polymer network morphology, its formation processes, and its control for desired electro-optic properties of flat-panel displays. 

Electro-Optic Properties of Polymer Stabilized Liquid Crystals. Polymer networks have been used to stabilize many of the liquid crystal display states in various types of displays quite advantageously. In this section, we present some recent work on correlating the material properties of the liquid crystal/polymer network composite to the electro-optic properties of the flat-panel displays specifically cholesteric texture displays (75) and simple nematic birefringent type displays (7(5). 

The surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystals in the smectic C (SmC ) phase are among the most interesting types of liquid-crystalline systems because of their potential applications in high-resolution flat panel displays and fast electro-optical devices [73-76]. Within this class of compounds, ferroelectric liquid-crystalline polymers (FLCPs) have gained theoretical and practical interest as systems which combine the properties of polymers and ferroelectric liquid crystals. This combination is achieved by attaching the ferroelectric mesogen to a main chain via a flexible spacer... 

It was under those circumstances that Richard Williams, who had joined RCA in 1958, started research on the necessary materials for flat-panel displays. He investigated the relatively unknown electro-optical effect of liquid crystals that had been reported by Glenn Brown et al. in a review in 1957 [1] and in George William Gray s book in 1962 [2]. 

Liquid crystals constitute a distinct thermodynamic state of condensed matter, which combines the fluidity of ordinary liquids with the macroscopic anisotropy of solid crystals. They are quintessential soft matter materials, which are today best known to the broad public for their ubiquitous application as electro-optical material in flat panel liquid aystal displays (LCDs). Systems exhibiting liquid crystalline order range from small rod- or disc-shaped organic molecules (e.g., the classic liquid crystals used in LCD devices), over polymers, biological membranes, dispersions of micelles and nanoparticles to certain quantum electronic materials. 

The behavior of liquid crystals at surfaces is of course of great importance in normal flat panel electro-optical displays, and the subject of anchoring is an area of strong research activity, where the work of Barbero and Durand is particularly noteworthy [73]. 

Then, in 1962, Williams patented the light scattering type electro-optical effect by which a new type of flat-panel liquid crystal display (LCD) and electro-optical modulators can be operated [3]. He also published the scientific explanation for this effect in the following year [4]. But soon after Williams changed his research field and did not take part in the development to further implement this light scattering effect. 

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