Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Jonathan P Bramble

Nathan James Smith

Martin David Tillin

Paul Antony Gass

Bronje M Musgrave

A method is provided that allows simultaneous control of macroscopic azimuthal and zenithal liquid crystal alignment (&#x3c6;, &#x3b8;) across a liquid crystal layer by controlling the area ratios between first, second and third different types of alignment region (T, T, T) in a patterned alignment layer, the three different types of alignment region (T, T, T) tending to induce liquid crystal alignment in the liquid crystal layer in three different respective, non-coplanar, principal orientations (z, x, y). In the illustrated example, the first type of alignment region (T) tends to induce substantially homeotropic alignment (in the z direction) and the second and third types of alignment region (T, T) tend to induce substantially planar alignment in different, orthogonal, principal orientations (in the x and y directions). Control of macroscopic zenithal liquid crystal alignment (&#x3b8;) is achieved by controlling the area ratios between the homeotropic (T) and planar region types (T, T), and control of macroscopic azimuthal liquid crystal alignment (&#x3c6;) is achieved by controlling the area ratio between the two planar region types (T, T).

Growing community of inventors

Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom

Jonathan P Bramble