LCD with tunable viewing angle by thermal modulation of optical layer

Abstract In this paper, we review the proposed liquid crystal display (LCD) with a tunable viewing angle consisting of a conventional liquid crystal display (LCD) panel and a thermally variable retardation layer (TVRL) characterized by uniformly aligned LC film with transparent indium‐tin‐oxide electrodes for Joule heating. In the TVRL, nematic phase is transitioned into isotropic by Joule heating. The numerical calculation showed that the intrinsic wide viewing angle was achieved at the isotropic phase of the TVRL by Joule heating, whereas the narrow viewing angle was obtained at the nematic phase of the TVRL. The simulated and experimental results of the proposed LCD show continuous and symmetrical viewing angle characteristics by tuning the retardation of TVRL using Joule heating. The structure of the viewing angle control proposed here is adoptable to all LCD modes with wide viewing angle characteristics.