Self-formation of microdomains by the topographical and fringe field effects in a liquid crystal display with dielectric surface gratings

Abstract

We report on the self-formation of microdomains by the topographical and fringe field effects in a twisted nematic liquid crystal display (LCD) with dielectric surface gratings (DSG). A regular array of the DSG produces periodically aligned microdomains in each pixel because of the topographical alignment of the LC and the spatial variations of the effective voltage across the LC layer. The mutual optical compensation within each pixel is naturally achieved and thus the range of viewing in the LCD is significantly extended without complex surface treatments. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.