Bistable Liquid Crystal Phase Grating Device for Smart Window and Window Display Applications

摘要

A liquid crystal (LC) phase grating devices have been studied actively because of their outstanding features, such as thehigh diffraction efficiency, large diffraction angle, no diffraction at the initial state, and the simple fabrication process. Itcan be used to control the haze value owing to its high diffraction efficiency. Although it can be operated with low power,power consumption needs to be further reduced because it requires power to maintain the diffraction. To reduce the powerconsumption in a phase grating device, bistable operation, which consumes power only while it is being switched betweenthe states, is necessary. In this paper, we will introduce bistable LC phase grating devices which can provide a translucentstate with a high haze value thanks to its strong diffraction. Moreover, it can be operated with very low power as thetransparent [translucent] state is maintained even after the applied vertical [in-plane] electric field is removed. We believethat these devices can be one of the new candidates for power-saving smart window or window display applications.