A controllable viewing angle LCD with an optically isotropic liquid crystal

    Authors

    M. S. Kim; Y. J. Lim; S. Yoon; S. W. Kang; S. H. Lee; M. Kim;S. T. Wu

    Comments

    Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

    Abbreviated Journal Title

    J. Phys. D-Appl. Phys.

    Keywords

    BLUE PHASES; DISPLAY; CELL; Physics, Applied

    Abstract

    An optically isotropic liquid crystal (LC) such as a blue phase LC or an optically isotropic nano-structured LC exhibits a very wide viewing angle because the induced birefringence is along the in-plane electric field. Utilizing such a material, we propose a liquid crystal display (LCD) whose viewing angle can be switched from wide view to narrow view using only one panel. In the device, each pixel is divided into two parts: a major pixel and a sub-pixel. The main pixels display the images while the sub-pixels control the viewing angle. In the main pixels, birefringence is induced by horizontal electric fields through inter-digital electrodes leading to a wide viewing angle, while in the sub-pixels, birefringence is induced by the vertical electric field so that phase retardation occurs only at oblique angles. As a result, the dark state (or contrast ratio) of the entire pixel can be controlled by the voltage of the sub-pixels. Such a switchable viewing angle LCD is attractive for protecting personal privacy.

    Journal Title

    Journal of Physics D-Applied Physics

    Volume

    43

    Issue/Number

    14

    Publication Date

    1-1-2010

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    6

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000275891300019

    ISSN

    0022-3727

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