Method for generating alignment on top of a liquid crystal polymer material
AssigneeRolic Technologies AG
InventorsFabien Xavier DELBAERE, Richard FRANTZ, Qian TANG, Jean-Francois ECKERT, Patricia SCANDIUCCI DE FREITAS, Hubert SEIBERLE
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an optical element including a layer comprising anisotropic optical function and alignment capability. The layer is formed from a composition comprising polymerizable liquid crystals and one or more photo-orientable substances. Alignment on top of the layer is achieved by exposure to linearly polarized light.
Claims21
A method for manufacturing an optical element including a layer comprising anisotropic optical function and alignment capability comprising:
- providing a composition comprising polymerizable liquid crystals and a photo-orientable substance (PLCPO material);
- forming a layer of the PLCPO material on a support;
- initiating polymerization of the polymerizable liquid crystals in the PLCPO layer;
- and
- exposing the PLCPO layer to aligning light to generate alignment on the upper surface of the layer for a slave material, such that the alignment direction at least in one area of the surface is different from the orientation of the liquid crystal director of the liquid crystals just beneath the upper surface of the layer in the at least one area.
A layer structure comprising a PLCPO layer, which has an optical anisotropic property and which has alignment capability on its surface, wherein at least in one area the alignment direction provided by the PLCPO layer is different from the liquid crystal orientation in the PLCPO layer just beneath the upper surface of the layer.
A composition comprising polymerizable liquid crystals and a photo-orientable substance, wherein the percentage by weight of photo-orientable substances is less than 5%, less than 1 wt % or even less than 0.1 wt % and the photo-orientable substance comprises fluorinated and/or siloxane moieties and/or is a polysiloxane,
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.