EP0387059A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Process of aligning liquid crystal media
Assignee: Elsicon Inc
•
Filing: 1990-03-08
•
Granted: —
•
Expires: 2010-03-08
Abstract
Abstract Disclosed is a process for aligning the molecules in a liquid crystal medium having a surface adjacent to a substrate, in which the liquid crystals have a molecular weight of less than 1500, and anisotropically absorbing molecules in the medium or in the substrate adjacent to it are exposed to linearly polarized light of a wavelength within the absorption band of the absorbing molecules, and alignment of the liquid crystal medium at an angle + or - ϑ with respect to the direction of the linear polarization of the incident light beam is induced by the exposed anisotropically absorbing molecules.
Inventors
- 👤 Wayne Michael Gibbons
- 👤 Brian Joseph Swetlin
- 👤 Shao-Tang Sun
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-08 12:06
CPC Classifications
G; G02; G02F; G02F1/00; G02F1/01; G02F1/13; G02F1/137; G02F1/13725; C; C09; C09K; C09K19/00; C09K19/52; C09K19/54; C09K19/56; C09K19/60; C09K19/606; G02F1/133; G02F1/1333; G02F1/1337; G02F1/133711; G02F1/13378; G02F1/133788; G11; G11B; G11B7/00; G11B7/004; G11B7/0055; G11B7/00555; G11B7/24; G11B7/241; G11B7/242; G11B7/244; G11B7/25; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S359/00; Y10S359/90
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 14
Claim 1
Independent Claim
103 words
A process for aligning the molecules in a liquid crystal medium and having a surface adjacent to a substrate, characterized in that liquid crystals in the medium have a molecular weight of less than 1500, and anisotropically absorbing molecules in the medium or in the substrate adjacent to it are exposed to linearly polarized light of a wavelength within the absorption band of the anisotropically absorbing molecules, and alignment of the liquid crystal medium at an angle + or - ϑ with respect to the direction of the linear polarization of the incident light beam is induced by the exposed anisotropically absorbing molecules.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
103 words
A process for aligning the molecules in a liquid crystal medium and having a surface adjacent to a substrate, characterized in that liquid crystals in the medium have a molecular weight of less than 1500, and anisotropically absorbing molecules in the medium or in the substrate adjacent to it are exposed to linearly polarized light of a wavelength within the absorption band of the anisotropically absorbing molecules, and alignment of the liquid crystal medium at an angle + or - ϑ with respect to the direction of the linear polarization of the incident light beam is induced by the exposed anisotropically absorbing molecules.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
36 words
A process as claimed in claim 1, further characterized in that the anisotropically absorbing molecules are thermotropic liquid crystal compounds or dichroic dyes that exhibit dichroic absorption bands between about 150 nm and about 2000 nm.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
22 words
A process as claimed in claim 1 or 2, further characterized in that the liquid crystal medium contains the anisotropically absorbing molecules.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
20 words
A process as claimed in claim 1 or 2, further characterized in that the substrate contains the anisotropically absorbing molecules.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
23 words
A process as claimed in claim 3, further characterized in that the anisotropically absorbing molecules are thermotropic liquid crystal compounds or dichroic dyes.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
22 words
A process as claimed in claim 4, further characterized in that the anisotropically absorbing molecules are nematic or smectic liquid crystal compounds.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
28 words
A process as claimed in claim 4, further characterized in that the anisotropically absorbing molecules are molecules of a dichroic dye dissolved in a thermotropic liquid crystal compound.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
33 words
A process as claimed in any of the preceding claims, further characterized in that the the liquid crystal medium is aligned homogeneously before the anisotropically absorbing molecules are exposed to the polarized light.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
27 words
A process as claimed in any of the preceding claims, further characterized in that the linearly polarized light is emitted from an argon, helium-neon or helium-cadmium laser.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
43 words
A process as claimed in in any of the preceding claims, further characterized in that the anisotropically absorbing molecules are dichroic dyes selected from the group consisting of azo, diazo, triazo, tetraazo, pentaazo, anthraquinone, mericyanine, methine, 2-phenylazothiazole, 2-phenylazobenzthiazole, 4,4′-bis(arylazo)stilbenes, perlyne and 4,8-diamino-1,5-naphtaquinone dyes.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
25 words
A process as claimed in any of the preceding claims, further characterized in that it is carried out in the presence of an electric field.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
21 words
A process as claimed in any of the preceding claims, further characterized in that the substrate includes a rubbed alignment layer.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
21 words
A process as claimed in claim 12, further characterized in that the anisotropically absorbing molecules are part of the alignment layer.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
Maintenance schedule is calculated for granted US utility patents.