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:
Jul. 19, 2011
Filed:
Apr. 29, 2008
Kazuya Yamanaka, Hachioji, JP;
Kazuya Yamanaka, Hachioji, JP;
Olympus Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
The present invention provides a polarization switching liquid crystal elementhaving TN liquid crystalretained between two transparent substratesandfor transmitting at least visible polarized light with the polarized light transmission axis selectively rotated by 90 degrees when a voltage is selectively applied to the TN liquid crystal, wherein a phase difference u of said TN liquid crystalis defined by the following equation: u=2×Δn×d/λ, where Δn is the refractive index anisotropy of said TN liquid crystal, d is the thickness of said TN liquid crystal, and λ is the wavelength of said polarized light, and a transmittance T of said polarization switching liquid crystal element measured with polarization plates on the incident and outgoing sides is defined by the following equation: T=(½)×sin{π(1+u)/2}/(1+u), and wherein the phase difference u includes a value 1.7 and the transmittance T is 0.1 or lower when the λ ranges from 400 nm to 700 nm. Then, a polarization switching liquid crystal element having a high response speed and reduced wavelength-dependency can be realized using inexpensive and highly durable TN liquid crystal without increasing parts cost.