Electrically controllable liquid crystal microstructures
First Claim
1. A light modulating cell, comprising:
- first and second opposed substrates;
a solution of prepolymer and low molecular weight (LMW) organic material, wherein said solution is disposed between the substrates and is phase separated to form;
a layer of polymeric material primarily adjacent to the first substrate; and
a defined microstructure of LMW organic material primarily adjacent to the second substrate, the microstructure being bounded by portions of the polymeric material extending to the second substrate, the defined microstructure defining a diffraction grating.
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Abstract
This invention relates to methods of building rigid or flexible arrays of electro-optic devices. A phase separated composite structure technique yields adjacent regions of polymer and liquid crystal (LC) of specific architecture instead of a random dispersion of LC droplets. The above devices can be prepared by producing volutes of LC structure (56) next to a polymer area (58) using anisotropic phase separation of LC from a photopolymer. Initial by UV exposure. The shape, size and placement of these regions inside a cell becomes easily controllable with using optical mask or laser beam. The boundaries of LC volume can be controlled by controlling the chemical composition of the polymer and using an alignment layer (28).
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A light modulating cell, comprising:
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first and second opposed substrates;
a solution of prepolymer and low molecular weight (LMW) organic material, wherein said solution is disposed between the substrates and is phase separated to form;
a layer of polymeric material primarily adjacent to the first substrate; and
a defined microstructure of LMW organic material primarily adjacent to the second substrate, the microstructure being bounded by portions of the polymeric material extending to the second substrate, the defined microstructure defining a diffraction grating. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A light modulating cell comprising:
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first and second opposed substrates;
a solution of prepolymer and low molecular weight (LMW) organic material, wherein said solution is disposed between the substrates and is phase separated to form;
a layer of polymeric material primarily adjacent to the first substrate; and
a defined microstructure of LMW organic material primarily adjacent to the second substrate, the microstructure being bounded by portions of the polymeric material extending to the second substrate, said defined microstructure defining an array of microlenses. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for fabricating a low molecular weight microstructure, comprising the steps of:
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preparing a solution of prepolymer and low molecular weight (LMW) organic material;
disposing said solution between pairs of substrates; and
inducing phase separation of said solution, the inducing being spatially controlled both transverse to and along the substrates to form at least one LMW microstructure on one of said substrates. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A light modulating cell, comprising:
a solution of prepolymer and low molecular weight (LMW) organic material that is phase separated to form;
a layer of polymeric material; and
a defined microstructure of LMW organic material disposed on one side of the layer of polymeric material, the defined microstructure defining one or more diffractive or refractive optical elements. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30)
Specification