Magnetic Field Alignment of Liquid Crystals for Fast Display Applications

Abstract

A clean, contact-free method for liquid-crystal alignment using magnetic fields is reported. The method is simple and very robust, with a significantly smaller number of processing steps required than other existing methods. The electro-optical response of these magnetically aligned cells is about ten times faster than that of traditional rubbed liquid-crystal cells, with on and off switching times τ of 0.3 ms and 2.3 ms, respectively (see Figure).