METHOD OF FABRICATING ELECTRO-OPTICAL DEVICES WITH POLYMER-STABILIZED LIQUID CRYSTAL MOLECULES
First Claim
1. A preparation method comprising:
- disposing a chiral or cholesteric liquid crystal, a photoreactive monomer, and a photoinitiator in a liquid crystal cell; and
illuminating a principal surface of the liquid crystal cell with ultraviolet light selected to have a non-uniform ultraviolet light intensity profile in the liquid crystal cell, the illuminating cooperating with the photoinitiator to polymerize at least a portion of the photoreactive monomer near the principal surface to generate a surface polymer network component having a density corresponding to the non-uniform ultraviolet light intensity profile, the polymer network biasing the liquid crystal toward a selected helical alignment direction; and
uniformly illuminating a principal surface of the liquid crystal cell with ultraviolet light selected to have a substantially uniform ultraviolet light intensity profile in the liquid crystal cell, the uniform illuminating cooperating with the photoinitiator to polymerize at least a portion of the photoreactive monomer to generate a volume polymer network component having a density that is substantially uniform in the liquid crystal cell.
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Abstract
In a preparation method, a chiral or cholesteric liquid crystal, a photoreactive monomer, and a photoinitiator are disposed in a liquid crystal cell. A principal surface of the liquid crystal cell is illuminated with ultraviolet light selected to have a non-uniform ultraviolet light intensity profile in the liquid crystal cell. The illuminating cooperates with the photoinitiator to polymerize at least a portion of the photoreactive monomer near the principal surface to generate a polymer network having a density corresponding to the non-uniform ultraviolet light intensity profile. The polymer network biases the liquid crystal toward a selected helical alignment direction. In some embodiments, the illuminating includes illuminating with first and second ultraviolet light intensity profiles to produce surface and volume polymer network components.
21 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A preparation method comprising:
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disposing a chiral or cholesteric liquid crystal, a photoreactive monomer, and a photoinitiator in a liquid crystal cell; and illuminating a principal surface of the liquid crystal cell with ultraviolet light selected to have a non-uniform ultraviolet light intensity profile in the liquid crystal cell, the illuminating cooperating with the photoinitiator to polymerize at least a portion of the photoreactive monomer near the principal surface to generate a surface polymer network component having a density corresponding to the non-uniform ultraviolet light intensity profile, the polymer network biasing the liquid crystal toward a selected helical alignment direction; and uniformly illuminating a principal surface of the liquid crystal cell with ultraviolet light selected to have a substantially uniform ultraviolet light intensity profile in the liquid crystal cell, the uniform illuminating cooperating with the photoinitiator to polymerize at least a portion of the photoreactive monomer to generate a volume polymer network component having a density that is substantially uniform in the liquid crystal cell. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for fabricating an electo-optic device, the method comprising:
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disposing a liquid crystal and a photoreactive monomer in a liquid crystal cell; arranging the liquid crystal in a uniformly lying helix texture; and optically polymerizing the photoreactive monomer to form a stabilizing polymer network, the optical polymerizing including (i) illuminating a principal surface of the liquid crystal cell with ultraviolet light selected to have a non-uniform ultraviolet light intensity profile in the liquid crystal cell so as to generate a surface polymer network component of the polymer network having a density corresponding to the non-uniform ultraviolet light intensity profile and (ii) illuminating a principal surface of the liquid crystal cell with ultraviolet light selected to have a substantially uniform light intensity profile across the gap of the liquid crystal cell so as to generate a volume polymer network component of the polymer network having a density that is substantially uniform across the gap of the liquid crystal cell. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
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13. A preparation method comprising:
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disposing a chiral or cholesteric liquid crystal and a photoreactive prepolymer in a gap of a liquid crystal cell; illuminating a first principal surface of the liquid crystal cell with a first ultraviolet light selected to have a first light intensity profile in the gap of the liquid crystal cell that is non-uniform, the illuminating with the first ultraviolet light causing polymerization of a portion of the photoreactive prepolymer near the first principal surface to generate a first polymer network component having a density that is non-uniform corresponding to the first light intensity profile; and illuminating at least one of the first principal surface and a second principal surface of the liquid crystal cell different from the first principle surface with a second ultraviolet light selected to have a second light intensity profile in the gap of the liquid crystal cell that is substantially uniform, the illuminating with the second ultraviolet light causing polymerization of a portion of the photoreactive prepolymer to generate a volume polymer network component that is substantially uniform across the gap of the liquid crystal cell. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification