Liquid crystal display having degree of twist and thickness for improved multiplexing

Claim 1

A multiplexible liquid crystal display comprising: front and rear plane-parallel support plates which form a cell with inner surfaces and a border; a nematic liquid crystal filled into the cell, said nematic liquid crystal having positive dielectric anisotropy and a chiral additive; electrode layers formed on the inner surfaces of the support plates; orientation layers formed on said electrode layers, which orientation layers align adjoining liquid crystal molecules in such a way that a local optical axis of the liquid crystal at said orientation layers has a tilt angle with respect to the plane-parallel support plates; polarizer means for polarizing light at least twice between entering and leaving the display, including at least a front polarizer; said support plates separated by a distance less than 10 μm; said liquid crystal exhibiting a total twist angle φ in the cell, said total twist having an absolute value which is greater than or equal to 180° and smaller than 360°; said liquid crystal having a layer thickness (d) and a pitch (p), wherein the ratio between layer thickness (d) and pitch (p) of the liquid crystal has an absolute value greater than or equal to 0.50 and less than or equal to 0.95; said front polarizer having a direction of vibration which makes an angle with the orientation direction of the front orientation layer such that, because of the total twist (φ) and the birefrigence (Δn) of the liquid crystal, the originally linearly polarized light becomes elliptically polarized and the contrast ratio optimal; multiplexing means for switching of the display with operating voltages outside any bistable range of the transfer characteristic; and spacers distributed over the viewing area of the display.