Liquid Crystal Alignment on Electron Beam Irradiated Substrate.

The anisotropy of the substrate is responsible for inducing alignment of liquid crystal. Several techniques such as mechanical contact, light and plasma irradiation, which can create the anisotropy, are being tried to apply in commercial products. In this research, electron beam irradiation was used to induce liquid crystal alignment. A tilted electron irradiation of around 1016/cm2 supposed to induce planar alignment in a lecithin-coated substrate. Polar anchoring was weakened by one order of magnitude, as compared to a rubbed PI layer, and the azimuthal anchoring was significantly weakened. An electron-beam-irradiated PI layer seemed not to induce the alignment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]