title: Performance enhancement using a non-uniform vertical electric field and polymer networks for in-plane switching of multi-pretilt, vertically aligned liquid crystal devices.
abstract: A simple and reproducible alignment method for fabricating vertically aligned (VA) liquid crystal (LC) cells with a multi-pretilt structure is developed. A non-uniform vertical electric field is employed in the LC/monomer mixed cells during the photocuring process, and two pretilt domains with a functional small pretilt angle (∼1.6°) in the stabilized VA LC/polymer cells are achieved. The enhanced electro-optical performance of the cell driven by an in-plane switching field is demonstrated. Compared to the pure cell, the 2 wt.% pretilt angle cell shows 36%, 64%, and 76% improvement in the optical switch, the gray-level rise time, and the gray-level fall time responses, respectively, which are obtained at a low driving voltage (≤12  V). When applied to LC devices, the proposed method not only effectively benefits the LC molecular alignment, but it also significantly boosts the electro-optical performance.
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Y W
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Y T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Y J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Yang