High-contrast vertical alignment of lateral difluoro-terphenyl liquid crystals

A simple method for achieving high-contrast vertical alignment of lateral difluoro-terphenyl liquid crystals using buffed polyimide substrates is demonstrated. By doping a positive, nonpolar or negative dielectric anisotropic compound or mixture to the host terphenyl liquid crystals, an excellent vertical alignment is obtained. This alignment is stable throughout the entire nematic range. The selected dopants not only improve the contrast ratio but enhance the figure-of-merit of the host terphenyl mixture as well. This alignment method is particularly useful for high-contrast liquid crystal televisions