초록 |
We present a new visualization method for directional distribution of liquid crystal (LC) molecules using directionally polymerized reactive mesogen (RM) on an alignment layer. The RM monomers within an alignment layer are dissolved in the LCs due to liquid crystalline property of RM and aligned along the LC molecules to reduce the excluded volume. Through UV exposure, the aligned RM monomers are directionally polymerized along the LC alignment, as a result, we can directly observe the distribution of LC molecules at even optically indistinguishable state. And also, since the directionally polymerized RMs could reproduce and control the specific LC alignment at the specific panel region, the display performance such as response time in whole grey levels and wide viewing angles with multi-domains could be dramatically improved. We believe that this method has a potential to understanding alignment mechanism of anisotropic molecules such as LCs and to improve the characteristics of LCDs. |