We propose and demonstrate a new approach of liquid crystal alignment for achieving enhanced electro-optical performance for device applications. Our approach makes use of a polymer stabilization alignment (PSA) by forming polymer nanostructures (spikes or fibrils) localized at the substrate surface and with a unidirectional orientation. The morphological studies depict that the spatially oriented polymer nanostructures have diameter smaller ranging from 20 to 100 nm and length of 50 nm to few hundred nanometers, and in some case, the nanostructures have a few microns depending on the concentration of polymer (see Fig. 1)?. We also show that the physical, dielectric and electro-optical properties a PSA device can be significantly improved due to the increase in strength of surface anchoring. Furthermore, the PSA devices maintain the same level of light transmission as that of the device without PSA.

Tailoring polymer stabilized liquid crystal alignment for device applications

245th National Meeting (2013)

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