Electro-optic application displays

In the past few decades the technological possibilities and interests have boosted research in systems in highly restricted geometries in almost every field of physics — recently down to lengthscales close to or even below the molecular level. In the field of liquid crystals, the importance of electro-optical applications which incorporate ordered liquid materials [1-3] has focused the research on LC systems with high surface-to-volume ratio [4]. In order to provide mechanically stable applications, liquid crystals are dispersed in polymers, stabilized by a polymer network, fill the cavities in porous materials, etc. [5,6]. The major technological interest concerns the scattering, reflective and bistable displays, optical switches, and others. 

Another interesting electro-optical application that has been developed using static electrowetting is in display technology. This idea was initially proposed in the 1980s by... 

Room temperature nematic liquid crystals have been developed for electro-optical applications [13-15]. In particular, twisted nematic (TN) liquid crystal displays have been widely used for practical display devices [ 13-15,38). In the TN cells, nematic liquid crystals form twisted alignment due to the influence of rubbed aligmnent polymer layers coated on the substrates (Fig. 7a). The TN cells are placed between two crossed polarizers. Without electric fields, the twisted LC aligmnent induces optical rotation of incident polarized... 

As pointed out already in Section 2.5.5, low-molecular weight ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) and FLCPs are attracting a lot of interest because of their potential for electro-optical applications. The polymers offer new possibilities, e.g., as elastomers for piezoelectric elements or by copolymerization [77, 78, 105] due to the formation of intrinsic mixtures between SmC mesogenic units and other comonomers. This leads to FLCPs combining several material properties which might be utilized for colored displays in the case of comonomers containing chromophores. For the differentiated evaluation of such copolymers with reference to the possible exploitation of nonlinear optical (NLO) properties, the interplay of the different orientation tendencies of the side-chain functionalities is of crucial importance [36,106]. 

Another interesting electro-optical application that has been developed using static electrowetting is in display technology. This idea was initially proposed in the 1980s by Beni and Hackwood [29] although a demonstrable prototype concept was only produced in 2003 by Hayes and Feenstra [30]. The principle is illustrated in Fig. 10a. A dyed oil drop under a transparent aqueous solution is... 

Volume 7 summarizes new trends on liquid crystals, display, and laser materials. The topics include liquid crystals for electro-optic applications, switchable holographic polymer-dispersed liquid crystals, electrochromism and electrochromic materials for displays, materials for solid-state dye lasers, photophysical properties of laser orientational relaxation processes in luminescence, and lasing of dyes and photosensitive materials for holographic recording. 

We close this chapter with further statements on liquid crystals as a preferred material for optical and electro-optical applications. To date, liquid crystals and related optical technologies have been incorporated in the design and fabrication of filters, lens, waveguides, diffractive and reflective elements, routers and interconnects, etc., of various forms, shapes, and functions used in optical communication system" as well as in free-space beam steering systems. Their compatibility with almost all optoelectronic materials as well as polymers and organic materials allows even more possibilities and flexibility in the emerging field of flexible displays" and polymer cholesteric liquid crystal flake/fluid display. 

In Chapter 6, we explore the fundamentals of liquid crystals for electro-optics and display, and nondisplay related applications such as sensing, switching and specialized... 

Almost every day, academic and industrial colloid and polymer scientists find examples of new block copolymer morphologies, and investigate possible new applications. The applications vary just as much as the systems from traditional high-impact polymer materials, to novel high-performance elastomers, to advanced drug-delivery polymer capsules and biochips, artificial skin and smart gels, contact lenses and electro-optical polymer displays. 

Many technological applications of liquid crystals, as in electro-optic display devices, are based on multicomponent mixtures. Such systems offer a route to the desired material properties which cannot be achieved simultaneously for single component systems. Mixtures also tend to exhibit a richer phase behaviour than pure systems with features such as re-entrant nematic phases [3] and nematic-nematic transitions possible. In this section, we describe simulations which have been used to study mixtures of thermotropic calamitic mesogens. 

In the previous sections, we have seen how computer simulations have contributed to our understanding of the microscopic structure of liquid crystals. By applying periodic boundary conditions preferably at constant pressure, a bulk fluid can be simulated free from any surface interactions. However, the surface properties of liquid crystals are significant in technological applications such as electro-optic displays. Liquid crystals also show a number of interesting features at surfaces which are not seen in the bulk phase and are of fundamental interest. In this final section, we describe recent simulations designed to study the interfacial properties of liquid crystals at various types of interface. First, however, it is appropriate to introduce some necessary terminology. 

An alternative approach is to add gelling agents to LCs. The gelling materials that have been nsed range from low MW materials to dendrimers. Potential applications inclnde large area displays and electro-optical switches. ... 

Since the first synthesis of mesoporous materials MCM-41 at Mobile Coporation,1 most work carried out in this area has focused on the preparation, characterization and applications of silica-based compounds. Recently, the synthesis of metal oxide-based mesostructured materials has attracted research attention due to their catalytic, electric, magnetic and optical properties.2 5 Although metal sulfides have found widespread applications as semiconductors, electro-optical materials and catalysts, to just name a few, only a few attempts have been reported on the synthesis of metal sulfide-based mesostructured materials. Thus far, mesostructured tin sulfides have proven to be most synthetically accessible in aqueous solution at ambient temperatures.6-7 Physical property studies showed that such materials may have potential to be used as semiconducting liquid crystals in electro-optical displays and chemical sensing applications. In addition, mesostructured thiogermanates8-10 and zinc sulfide with textured mesoporosity after surfactant removal11 have been prepared under hydrothermal conditions. 

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