High-definition vertically aligned liquid crystal microdisplays using a circularly polarized light

Abstract

A high-definition vertically aligned liquid crystal (LC) microdisplay exhibits a excellent contrast ratio, but its fringing field effect splits the bright state unevenly and leads to a very slow response time. By utilizing a circularly polarized light instead of conventional linearly polarized light, we have overcome the long-standing problems of poor sharpness, low brightness, and slow response time. Confirming computer simulations agree with the experimental results well. This approach can be applied to both reflective and transmissive LC microdisplays.

60‐1: Invited Paper: Emerging microdisplay technologies for AR/VR applications

“…In Magic Leap 2, the incident light on LCoS is circularly polarized. It is well known that circularly polarized light helps boost the optical efficiency of vertical alignment (VA) LCoS [18], but its effect on the FFE of mixed twisted nematic (MTN) mode has not been thoroughly investigated.…”

Advanced liquid crystal devices for augmented reality and virtual reality displays: principles and applications

“…For an amplitude LCoS, a straightforward method to mitigate the FFE is to reduce the cell gap by employing a high Δ n LC material 104 , 105 . Besides, several other strategies have been proposed to suppress the FFE, such as optimizing the slope of pixel electrodes 106 , adopting circularly polarized light 107 , fabricating double-side electrode structures 108 , and introducing patterned pretilt angles 109 . For an SLM panel, the phase disturbance caused by the FFE could lower the diffraction efficiency and exacerbate the reconstruction error.…”

Submillisecond-Response Vertical-Aligned Liquid Crystal for Color Sequential Projection Displays

“…However, fringing field degrades the contrast ratio and reduces the display brightness [13], [14]. A straightforward way to suppress fringing field effect is to reduce cell gap .…”