Liquid crystal alignment on patterned-alignment films

To come up with a bistable liquid crystal (LC) device using unpolarized UV light, single-step laser patterning on a photoalignment layer using a photomask was proposed to achieve an equilibrium configuration of LC molecules in contact with a periodically patterned substrate. The patterns were formed by stripes of alternating random planar and homeotropic anchoring on a submicrometer scale in the order of 0.5 μm. Two possible configurations of bistable LC cells that can be obtained by combining a micropatterned surface formed with alternating random-planar- and homeotropic-alignment with planar- or homeotropic-alignment surfaces were proposed. The alignment properties of the two proposed models were investigated, along with the microscopic switching behavior of micropatterned nematic LC cells.