Optical simulation of viewing angle property of biaxial nematic bent-core liquid crystal

Abstract

The conventional liquid crystal displays (LCDs) have been using optically uniaxial liquid crystal (LC) medium and this often causes a significant image change at oblique viewing angles. We simulated the viewing angle properties of the biaxial nematic (Nb) phase of a bent-core liquid crystal (BLC) and compared the results with the vertically aligned (VA)- and the in-plane switching (IPS)-LCDs. The Nb phase of the BLC showed a smaller transmittance at the dark state as well as a greater contrast ratio at wide viewing angle. The viewing angle property of the Nb-mode without any compensation film was slightly superior to the IPS-mode with the compensation films eliminating the decross of the polarizers at oblique viewing angle.