An object of the present invention is to provide a structure having a reflective layer that has satisfactory transparency and diffuse reflectivity and is also capable of reducing the occurrence of glare, and a method for forming the reflective layer. The object of the present invention is achieved by a structure including a substrate and a reflective layer formed by immobilizing a cholesteric liquid crystalline phase, in which, upon observing a cross section of the reflective layer by a scanning electron microscope, lines formed by bright portions and lines formed by dark portions derived from the cholesteric liquid crystalline phase have a wave-like structure or are inclined with respect to the surface of the substrate, and at least a part of the lines formed by the bright portions and the lines formed by the dark portions are discontinuous.

The liquid crystal lens includes a first substrate and a second substrate, a first common electrode disposed on the first substrate, a groove pattern disposed on the second substrate, where the plurality of electrode patterns face the first substrate, a plurality of electrode patterns disposed on the groove pattern, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, where the liquid crystal layer includes a uniformly lying helix type liquid crystal material. The liquid crystal lens may be included in a liquid crystal display device.

A magnet erased writing device or eWriter includes cholesteric liquid crystal material, in which a written image is erased using magnetically activated electronic circuitry. By eliminating the mechanical erase button of Prior Art eWriters, the eWriter can be designed with a display footprint that can cover nearly the entire face of the eWriter. An erasing magnet can be used with the device, which can be handheld as, for example, by being part of a stylus. With the erasing magnet separated from the device and the mechanical erase button being omitted, the eWriter avoids unintentional erasures, a drawback of Prior Art eWriters.

The invention relates to a reflecting cell including at least two substrates covered by an electrode and facing each other, the substrates delimiting between them a volume which separates them and which is filled with a cholesteric liquid crystal-type material, both electrodes being intended to be connected to a voltage source. This cell includes at least one half-wave plate arranged between both substrates and dividing the volume into two compartments, each enclosing a part of a same cholesteric liquid crystal.

A display device includes an optical waveguide layer, a variable refractive index layer, and an optical layer. The refractive index of the variable refractive index layer changes in response to application of a drive voltage. The optical layer reflects or absorbs light. The variable refractive index layer reflects the light to be guided through the optical waveguide layer 11 toward the inside of the optical waveguide layer depending on the refractive index of the variable refractive index layer to allow the optical waveguide layer to guide the reflected light. The variable refractive index layer introduces the light to be guided through the optical waveguide layer into the variable refractive index layer depending on the refractive index of the variable refractive index layer and emits the introduced light out of the variable refractive index layer. The optical layer reflects or absorbs the light emitted from the variable refractive index layer.

A reflecting cell including at least two substrates each covered by an electrode and facing each other, the substrates delimitating between them a volume which separates them and which is filled with a bistable liquid crystal-type material with a threshold field, for example a cholesteric liquid crystal, both electrodes being intended to be connected to a voltage source. This cell is characterized in that at least one of the electrodes is formed by associating a pattern, which does not entirely cover the surface of the substrate considered, and a conducting layer which covers the surface of the substrate considered, the conductivity of the material of the layer being lower than that of the material of the pattern.

A liquid crystal display device, which comprises: a backlight source (1); a first handedness cholesteric liquid crystal film layer (2), located at an upper side of the backlight source (1) as a light emitting surface; an array substrate (3), located at an upper side of the first handedness cholesteric liquid crystal film layer (2); a color filter substrate (5), located at an upper side of the array substrate (3); and a second handedness cholesteric liquid crystal layer (4), sandwiched between the array substrate (3) and the color filter substrate (5), the first handedness being opposite to the second handedness. The liquid crystal display device greatly improves light efficiency and transmittance of the display and saves the processing steps and manufacturing costs.

Examples of diffractive devices comprise a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) layer comprising a plurality of chiral structures, wherein each chiral structure comprises a plurality of liquid crystal molecules that extend in a layer depth direction by at least a helical pitch and are successively rotated in a first rotation direction. Arrangements of the liquid crystal molecules of the chiral structures vary periodically in a lateral direction perpendicular to the layer depth direction to provide a diffraction grating. The diffractive devices can be configured to reflect light having a particular wavelength range and sense of circular polarization. The diffractive devices can be used in waveguides and imaging systems in augmented or virtual reality systems.

Examples of diffractive devices comprise a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) layer comprising a plurality of chiral structures, wherein each chiral structure comprises a plurality of liquid crystal molecules that extend in a layer depth direction by at least a helical pitch and are successively rotated in a first rotation direction. Arrangements of the liquid crystal molecules of the chiral structures vary periodically in a lateral direction perpendicular to the layer depth direction to provide a diffraction grating. The diffractive devices can be configured to reflect light having a particular wavelength range and sense of circular polarization. The diffractive devices can be used in waveguides and imaging systems in augmented or virtual reality systems.

A touch screen panel may include a liquid crystal, a first transparent electrode and a second transparent electrode provided at both sides of the liquid crystal, and a controller configured to transfer image data to the first transparent electrode and the second transparent electrode in a first mode and sense a touch of a user on at least one of the first transparent electrode and the second transparent electrode in a second mode.