Field effects in nematic liquid crystals obtained with interdigital electrodes

Abstract

New electro‐optic effects in nematic liquid crystals have been found with a gratinglike array of in‐plane interdigital electrodes. High‐contrast light valving has been demonstrated in a tunable optical‐activity mode and in two tunable birefringence modes. All three field‐effect modes utilized a positive‐dielectric‐anisotropy nematic liquid crystal. Proposals are made for applying the interdigital technique to cholesteric, smectic, and mixed liquid‐crystal systems. Experimental results indicate that the comb‐shaped electrodes are valuable in a variety of display devices.