Homeotropically aligned nematic liquid crystal device locked by a polymer wall with wide viewing angle

We fabricated a homeotropically aligned nematic liquid crystal display (LCD), where the chiral-doped LC with negative dielectric anisotropy is locked by a polymer wall under crossed polarizers and whose on and off states are controlled by a vertical electric field. In the absence of an electric field, the rubbing-free device appears to be dark. In the presence of the field, the homeotropically aligned LCs tilt down, giving rise to brightness but four brush schlieren textures appear with point singularity S= + 1. This indicates that the mid-directors have radial alignment inside the polymer wall in the voltage-on state. Consequently, the device shows excellent viewing angle characteristics. The electro-optic characteristics of one prototype with excellent viewing angles are reported herein. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.1849842]