Homogeneously Aligned Liquid Crystals on Activated a-Al 2 O 3 Surfaces with Strong Van Der Waals Forces.

This report discusses homogeneously aligned liquid crystals (LCs) subjected to ion-beam (IB) irradiation of the amorphous(a)-Al2O3 alignment layer. We studied the relationship between LC alignment and IB alignment conditions acting on homogeneous surfaces. We attained homogeneous LC orientations on a- Al2O3 alignment layer by optimization between the van der Waals interactions caused by Al-O bonding breaking with x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The voltage-transmittance characteristics of the twisted nematic – liquid crystal displays (LCDs) on the a-Al2O3 film indicate potential for use as the LC alignment layer in various LCD display applications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]