Single-walled carbon nanotube bundles were deposited onto glass substrates with controlled nanotube orientation by two methods, self-assembly and dip-coating, generating dense and sparse carbon nanotube films, respectively. The carbon nanotube films were used to fabricate optical cells in which planar alignment of nematic liquid crystals is achieved. This configuration was amenable to electric-field-induced switching as verified by transmitted polarized light microscopy. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.