Angle of view polarization characterization of liquid crystal displays and their components

Abstract LCD performance is generally evaluated in terms of luminance and color versus viewing angle. In the present paper, we show that this type of display can be favorably characterized in terms of polarization. We show that ELDIM EZContrast instrument which is routinely used for viewing angle measurements can be upgrade for measuring the polarization state of the light at each incidence and azimuth angle. More precisely, the degree of polarization of light, its ellipticity and polarization direction can be measured at each incidence angle between 0 and 88° and for all the azimuth angles (from 0 to 360°). Important differences between the displays can be detected and related to their internal structures when luminance and color profiles are quite similar. The same setup can also be used to characterize optical components of the LCDs.