Analysis of the rewriting time of liquid crystal optical rewritable e-paper

Theoretical and experimental analysis of the rewriting time of liquid crystal (LC) optical rewritable (ORW) e-paper was conducted. The equations of rewriting time of alignment molecule SD1 film with and without interaction with LC based on diffusion model were derived, which shows that the rewriting time of LC ORW e-paper could be shortened by enlarging light intensity or decreasing azimuthal anchoring energy. The rewriting time of pure SD1 films and LC ORW cells was measured under different light intensities. And LC ORW cells with different azimuthal anchoring energy were prepared for rewriting time measurement. A good agreement between experimental and theoretical results was obtained, which indicates that using larger light intensity and making LC cell with smaller azimuthal anchoring energy, ORW rewriting time could be decreased to the amount suitable for practical use.