Electro-optical effects, liquid crystals and their application in displays

The rapid progress of the liquid-crystal display (LCD) technology is due to the synergism resulting from combining research on electrooptical effects, liquid-crystal materials, and display technology. The design and production of liquid-crystal molecules with specific physical properties and their application in suitable electrooptical effects has-since the early 1970s-led from simple digital watch displays to high-information-content LCDs capable of reproducing colour television pictures or graphics information on flat computer terminals. Material properties which affect the display performance and the operating principle of the twisted-nemantic effect on which most LCDs are based are reviewed. Also reviewed are the electrooptical properties (and their dependence on material parameters) of highly multiplexible, mono- and double-layer supertwisted-nematic LCDs and optical-mode-interference LCDs