New alignment liquid crystal techniques for operation at harsh ambient conditions and high-intensity light

Liquid crystal alignment is a key process in the production of modern display devices and other liquid crystal based optical elements. The traditional alignment procedures, dealing with treatment of organic films (rubbing, photopolymerization, ion beam treatment, etc), do not satisfy the increasing demands of modern technology. Because of the presence of a degradable polymer layer, none of these methods provides stability of the liquid crystal orientation for operation in high intensity visible, UV or infrared light. This problem can be solved using anisotropically treated inorganic thin films. The alignment is very sensitive; both polar and azimuthal anchoring energy parameters can be controlled by either conditions of the treatment process or the history of the inorganic film formation. The non-organic nature of the substrates provides non-degrading stability of the liquid crystals alignment while operating in high intensity visible, UV or infrared light. We demonstrate and discuss the use of this technology in many light modulating devices, including high intensity light phase retarders and displays operating at harsh ambient conditions.