Variable liquid crystal pretilt angles generated by photoalignment of a mixed polyimide alignment layer

Abstract

A method to generate any liquid crystal pretilt angle is proposed and demonstrated. This method is based on deep ultraviolet photoalignment of a layer consisting of nanostructured domains of horizontal and vertical alignment polyimides. Competition between the two types of domains produces the controlled pretilt angle. The obtained anchoring energy is reasonably large. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.