Ferroelectric liquid crystal display device having monostabilized state as an initial state and continuous gray-scale

摘要

A liquid crystal display device having fast response characteristics and enabling analog gray-scale display is provided. The liquid crystal display device is formed of a liquid crystal material having the chiral smectic C phase. The projection component on the substrates of the axial direction of a cone delineated by a liquid crystal molecule, and the projection component on the substrates of the axial direction of the liquid crystal molecule itself, are adapted to be coincident with the processing direction for uniaxial orientation of the substrates, this state being monostabilized as the initial state. On application of an electrical field, the liquid crystal molecule is rotated along the cone and the apparent tilt angle as viewed on the substrate surface is continuously changed in accordance with the strength of the applied electrical field. The intensity of the transmitted light is increased continuously with increasing tilt angle to obtain the continuous gray- scale or analog gray-scale.