A nematic liquid crystal (NLC) layer with the anisotropy axis modulated at afixed rate q in the transverse direction is considered. If the layer locallyconstitutes a half-wave plate, then the thin-screen approximation predicts 100%-efficient diffraction of normal incident wave. The possibility of implementingsuch a layer via anchoring at both surfaces of a cell with thickness L isstudied as a function of parameter qL and threshold values of this parameterare found for a variety of cases. Distortions of the structure of director incomparison with the preferable ideal profile are found via numerical modeling.Freedericksz transition is studied for this configuration. Coupled-mode theoryis applied to light propagation through such cell allowing to account forwalk-off effects and effects of nematic distortion. In summary, this cell issuggested as a means for projection display; high efficiency is predicted.
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