The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 28, 1986
Filed:
May. 09, 1983
Philip J Bos, Portland, OR (US);
Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, OR (US);
Abstract
A liquid crystal cell (100) includes a chiral additive in the liquid crystal material (106) to operate the cell as a rapid starting, high-speed variable optical retarder. The cell is fabricated so that the surface noncontacting directors (116 and 118) of the opposed surfaces of the director alignment layers (112 and 112') of the electrode structures (102 and 104) are tilt-biased in opposite directions. This surface contacting director configuration induces rapid surface noncontacting director (120a, 120b, 120c, 120d, 120e) relaxation without optical bounce when the cell is switched from the field aligned ('ON') state to the partly relaxed ('OFF') state. The chiral additive prevents an inactive cell from relaxing to the splayed topological state, thereby enabling switching operation without a warm-up delay and preventing the surface of the cell from having a mottled appearance when it remains unused.