CIKC Brochure 201003_5b - University of Cambridge

CIKC
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Plastic Large Area Colour Reflective Displays (PLACORD)
New Smectic A liquid crystal materials and electro-optic technology for reflective colour and
‘electronic print’ displays have been developed and this project is developing processes to
laminate these materials between plastic substrates for large area display applications.
Partners: Dow Corning, Advex
Advantages of Smectic A liquid crystal for reflective displays
• Bistable – low power consumption
• Greyscale response.
• Bright white state > 55% reflectivity.
• Reflective contrast > 7:1
• Stackable for full colour displays
• Very large arrays of pixels can be multiplexed
Project Aims:
− Set up a state-of-the-art laboratory for making plastic encapsulated devices.
− To develop and test liquid crystal guest-host materials for e-posters.
− To make a composite tile involving three stacked layers of single colour sub-tiles.
Stable with no
voltage applied.
Electro-optic bistability in Smectic-A liquid crystal
Clear
State LC
Schematic of SmA liquid crystals
AC voltage low frequency (~50
AC voltage high frequency (1–2 kHz)
Schematic of state changing conditions
Scattered
State LC
Stable with no
voltage applied.