Smectic C liquid crystal switching method for book-shelf geometry screen - uses short strong electric field applied parallel with liquid crystal surface and followed by weak field applied along normal direction

摘要

The method uses a liquid crystal layer (1) with uniform polarisation which is placed in a planar cell (2) flanked by two supports (4,5). A strong electric field (E) is then applied to the layer along a direction parallel to the cell surfaces (2,3). Immediately after the strong field is switched off, a weak field normal to the cell surfaces is applied. The field divides the liquid crystal layer in square shaped domains (7) which are delimited by dielectric walls (6).