US4818070A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Liquid crystal optical device using U.V.-cured polymer dispersions and process for its production
Assignee: AGC Inc
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Filing: 1988-01-15
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Granted: 1989-04-04
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Expires: 2008-01-15
Abstract
Abstract A liquid crystal optical device comprising a pair of substrates provided with electrodes and a layer containing a liquid crystal material sandwiched between the pair of substrates, wherein said layer is formed by irradiating light to a mixture of a liquid crystal material and a photo-curable compound selected so that the refractive index of the resulting cured product agrees to either the ordinary refractive index (n O ) or the extraordinary refractive index (n e ) of the liquid crystal material used, or the refractive index (n x ) of the liquid crystal material when it is randomly oriented, held between the pair of substrates provided with electrodes, to cure the photo-curable compound and fix the resulting phase separation of the liquid crystal material and the cured product, wherein said layer has at least a portion optically oriented by applying a voltage to the portion across the substrates during the irradiation of light to cure the photo-curable compound.
Inventors
- 👤 Tomoki Gunjima
- 👤 Hiroshi Kumai
- 👤 Minoru Akatsuka
- 👤 Shoichi Tsuchiya
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-05 22:21
CPC Classifications
C; C09; C09K; C09K19/00; C09K19/52; C09K19/54; C09K19/542; C09K19/544; G; G02; G02F; G02F1/00; G02F1/01; G02F1/13; G02F1/133; G02F1/1333; G02F1/1334; G03; G03F; G03F7/00; G03F7/0005; G03F7/001; G02F1/133374; G02F1/13345; G02F1/13347; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S359/00; Y10S359/90
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 31
Claim 1
Independent Claim
158 words
A liquid crystal optical device comprising a pair of substrates provided with electrodes and a layer containing a liquid crystal material sandwiched between the pair of substrates, wherein said layer is formed by irradiating light to a mixture of a liquid crystal material and a photo-curable compound selected so that the refractive index of the resulting cured product agrees to either the ordinary refractive index (n 0 ) or the extraordinary refractive index (n e ) of the liquid crystal material used, or the refractive index (n x ) of the liquid crystal material when it is randomly oriented, held between the pair of substrates provided with electrodes, to cure the photo-curable compound and fix the resulting phase separation of the liquid crystal material and the cured product, wherein said layer has at least a portion optically oriented by applying a voltage to the portion across the substrates during the irradiation of light to cure the photo-curable compound.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
158 words
A liquid crystal optical device comprising a pair of substrates provided with electrodes and a layer containing a liquid crystal material sandwiched between the pair of substrates, wherein said layer is formed by irradiating light to a mixture of a liquid crystal material and a photo-curable compound selected so that the refractive index of the resulting cured product agrees to either the ordinary refractive index (n 0 ) or the extraordinary refractive index (n e ) of the liquid crystal material used, or the refractive index (n x ) of the liquid crystal material when it is randomly oriented, held between the pair of substrates provided with electrodes, to cure the photo-curable compound and fix the resulting phase separation of the liquid crystal material and the cured product, wherein said layer has at least a portion optically oriented by applying a voltage to the portion across the substrates during the irradiation of light to cure the photo-curable compound.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
48 words
The liquid crystal optical device according to claim 1, wherein the photo-curable compound is selected so that the refractive index of the resulting cured product agrees to the ordinary refractive index (n 0 ) or the extraordinary refractive index (n e ) of the liquid crystal material used.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
45 words
The liquid crystal optical device according to claim 2, wherein at the optically oriented portion, liquid crystal molecules are aligned substantially perpendicular to the substrates so that light is always transmitted through the portion irrespective of application of a voltage higher than the threshold voltage.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
66 words
The liquid crystal optical device according to claim 2, wherein at the optically oriented portion, liquid crystal molecules are aligned substantially with inclination at a certain angle, on the average, to the substrates so that light is scattered when no voltage is applied, and the transmittance and scattering of light can be controlled by the application or non-application of a voltage higher than the threshold voltage.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
52 words
The liquid crystal optical device according to claim 1, wherein the photo-curable compound is selected so that the refractive index of the resulting cured product agrees to the ordinary refractive index (n 0 ) of the nematic liquid crystal material used, and the nematic liquid crystal material has a positive dielectric anisotropy.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
33 words
The liquid crystal optical device according to claim 1, wherein the mixture of a liquid crystal material and a photo-curable compound is a solution of the photo-curable compound in the liquid crystal material.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
18 words
The liquid crystal optical device according to claim 1, wherein the photo-curable compound is a photo-curable vinyl compound.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
17 words
The liquid crystal optical device according to claim 1, wherein the photo-curable compound is an acrylate compound.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
24 words
The liquid crystal optical device according to claim 1, wherein the photo-curable compound contains from 15 to 70% by weight of an acryl oligomer.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
25 words
The liquid crystal optical device according to claim 1, wherein the layer containing a liquid crystal material contains a spacer to secure a cell gap.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
22 words
The liquid crystal optical device according to claim 1, wherein the substrates provided with electrodes are plastic substrates provided with transparent electrodes.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
27 words
The liquid crystal optical device according to claim 11, wherein a protective sheet is laminated on the outer side of at least one of the plastic substrates.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
25 words
The liquid crystal optical device according to claim 11, wherein a protective sheet is laminated on the outer side of each of the plastic substrates.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
30 words
The liquid crystal optical device according to claim 13, wherein the glass sheet is bonded by polyvinyl butyral to each plastic substrate integrally in the form of a laminated glass.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
131 words
A process for producing a liquid crystal optical device, which comprises supplying a mixture of a liquid crystal material and a photo-curable compound selected so that the refractive index of the resulting cured product agrees to either the ordinary refractive index (n 0 ) or the extraordinary refractive index (n e ) of the liquid crystal material used, or the refractive index (n x ) of the liquid crystal material when it is randomly oriented, between a pair of substrates provided with electrodes and irradiating the mixture with light to cure the photo-curable compound and form a cured layer of the mixture, wherein a voltage is applied to at least a portion of the mixture across the substrates during the irradiation so that only said portion is optically oriented upon curing.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
131 words
A process for producing a liquid crystal optical device, which comprises supplying a mixture of a liquid crystal material and a photo-curable compound selected so that the refractive index of the resulting cured product agrees to either the ordinary refractive index (n 0 ) or the extraordinary refractive index (n e ) of the liquid crystal material used, or the refractive index (n x ) of the liquid crystal material when it is randomly oriented, between a pair of substrates provided with electrodes and irradiating the mixture with light to cure the photo-curable compound and form a cured layer of the mixture, wherein a voltage is applied to at least a portion of the mixture across the substrates during the irradiation so that only said portion is optically oriented upon curing.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
45 words
The process according to claim 15, wherein the photo-curable compound is selected so that the refractive index of the resulting cured product agrees to the ordinary refractive index (n 0 ) or the extraordinary refractive index (n e ) of the liquid crystal material used.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
59 words
The process according to claim 16, wherein the irradiation is conducted under application of a voltage substantially higher than the threshold voltage so that at the optically oriented portion, liquid crystal molecules are aligned substantially perpendicular to the substrates so that light is always transmitted through the portion irrespective of application of a voltage higher than the threshold voltage.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
82 words
The process according to claim 16, wherein the irradiation is conducted under application of a voltage close to or higher than the threshold voltage so that at the optically oriented portion, liquid crystal molecules are aligned substantially with inclination at a certain angle, on the average, to the substrates so that light is scattered when no voltage is applied, and the transmittance and scattering of light can be controlled by the application or non-application of a voltage higher than the threshold voltage.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
30 words
The process according to claim 16, wherein the mixture of a liquid crystal material and a photo-curable compound is a solution of the photo-curable compound in the liquid crystal material.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
47 words
The process according to claim 15, wherein the photo-curable compound is selected so that the refractive index of the resulting cured product agrees to the ordinary refractive index (n 0 ) of the liquid crystal material used, and the liquid crystal material has a positive dielectric anisotropy.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
47 words
The process according to claim 15, wherein the mixture of the liquid crystal material and the photo-curable compound is supplied onto one of the substrates provided with electrodes, and then, the other substrate is overlaid thereon, followed by the irradiation with light to cure the photo-curable compound.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
43 words
The process according to claim 21, wherein a spacer to secure a cell gap is introduced together with the mixture, or before or after the supply of the mixture onto one of the substrates and prior to the overlaying of the other substrate.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
60 words
The process according to claim 15, wherein the irradiation is conducted firstly to cure said portion of the mixture by masking the mixture other than said portion and applying a voltage across the electrodes of the substrates corresponding to at least said portion, and then to cure the rest of the mixture without masking and without application of a voltage.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
58 words
The process according to claim 15, wherein the irradiation is conducted firstly to cure said portion of the mixture by masking the mixture other than said portion and applying a voltage across the electrodes of the substrates covering the entire mixture, and then to cure the rest of the mixture without masking and without application of a voltage.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
55 words
The process according to claim 15, wherein the irradiation is conducted firstly to cure the mixture except for said portion of the mixture by masking said portion, and then to cure said portion of the mixture without masking and by applying a voltage across the electrodes of the substrates corresponding to at least said portion.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
53 words
The process according to claim 15, wherein the irradiation is conducted firstly to cure the mixture except for said portion of the mixture by masking said portion, and then to cure said portion of the mixture without masking and by applying a voltage across the electrodes of the substrates covering the entire mixture.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
23 words
The process according to claim 15, wherein the irradiation is conducted under application of a voltage across the entire electrodes of the substrates.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
14 words
The process according to claim 15, wherein the photo-curable compound is an acrylate compound.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
21 words
The process according to claim 15, wherein the photo-curable compound contains from 15 to 70% by weight of an acryl oligomer.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1992-04-03 | 1992-10-03 | 1993-04-04 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1996-04-03 | 1996-10-03 | 1997-04-04 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2000-04-03 | 2000-10-03 | 2001-04-04 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |