We design a dual-view liquid crystal display (DVLCD) which display two different images in the left and right viewing directions simultaneously. The main-pixel of the DVLCD comprises the right sub-pixels (RSPs) and the left sub-pixels (LSPs). The LCs in the RSPs and the LSPs have the opposite rotation directions, which are controlled by the inclined electric fields provided by the patterned electrodes. Addressing the RSPs and LSPs with the voltages having different polarities effectively decreases the maximum operation voltage of the DVLCD. The proposed DVLCD is free of the complicate multiple-step rubbing and shadow mask treatments, and hence has the advantages of low cost and easy fabrication.

This work investigates the switching characteristics of the polymer-stabilized vertical alignment (VA) liquid crystal (LC) cell. The experimental results reveal that the fall time of the cell declines as the monomer concentration increases because the vertically-aligned polymer networks accelerate the relaxation of the LC molecules. Furthermore, the formed polymer networks impede the growth and annihilation of LC defects, suppressing the optical bounce in the time dependent transmittance curve of the cell when the voltage is applied to the cell, substantially reducing the rise time of the cell. A step-voltage driving scheme is demonstrated to eliminate completely the optical bounce and hence improve further the rise time of the VA LC cell. The rise times of the pristine and the polymer-stabilized VA LC cells under the step-voltage driving scheme are less than 50% of those under the conventional driving scheme.

This work demonstrates a dual-frequency polymer-stabilized liquid crystal pi cell with zero bias and a short response time. The high curing voltage and low curing intensity give the cell a low dark state and a high bright state, such that the transmittance against the applied voltage curve is steep. The response time is under 1ms and is independent of monomer concentration because a strong electric torque is exerted on the liquid crystals. The cell is useful in field-sequential color systems, and the low operating voltage of ∼5V makes the cell compatible with conventional thin film transistor driving voltages.

Abstract

The electro-optical responses of the in-plane switching (IPS) dual-frequency liquid crystal (LC) cell operated with the amplitude-modulation method and the frequency-modulation method were investigated. The obtained results reveal that the electric torque exerted to the LCs and the strong anchoring energy produced from the rubbed polyimide dominate the reorientation of the LCs. With the frequency-modulation method, the generated electric torque combined with the strong surface anchoring energy give the cell a very short fall time, which is independent of the applied frequency. A new waveform composed of the amplitude modulation and the frequency modulation of the supplied voltage-pulse to achieve a fast responding IPS LC cell is proposed. The obtained response time is much less than that of the conventional amplitude-modulation method.