Novel liquid crystal displays based on highly polarized photoluminescent polymer films

Highly-polarized photoluminescent polymer films based on poly(2,5-dialkoxy-p-phenyleneethynylene)s (PPE) were fabricated for use in a new family of liq. crystal displays (LCDs). As one relevant example, a back-lit twisted-nematic configuration of an LCD was built, in which one of the absorbing polarizers was replaced by a polarized PL film, characterized by a dichroic ratio in excess of 70. Such devices can exhibit a substantial improvement in brightness, contrast and viewing angle, since the polarized photoluminescent films can combine two sep. features, i.e. the functions of a polarizer and an efficient color filter