Fabrication of vertical alignment in ferroelectric liquid crystals for display application

In this study, we focus on vertical alignment ferroelectric liquid crystals (VA-FLCs), because an FLC display with a high contrast ratio is expected. In the VA, although the normal of smectic layers is vertical to the substrate surface, the director of FLC molecules must tilt to the substrate surface at the tilt angle of FLC molecules. Thus, it is usually difficult to obtain a uniform VA in FLCs. We determine the optimum conditions for the fabrication of VA-FLC cells in terms of the tilt angle of FLC molecules, the anchoring strength of the alignment film, and the cell gap. Results indicate that the FLC with a small tilt angle tends to form good VA, which can be obtained by utilizing alignment films with high surface anchoring strengths. Good VA strongly depends on the cell gap. (C) 2014 The Japan Society of Applied Physics