A liquid crystal display includes: a first substrate; a second substrate overlapping the first substrate and spaced apart therefrom; a liquid crystal layer between the first substrate and the second substrate and including liquid crystal molecules; a first alignment layer between the first substrate and the liquid crystal layer; and a plurality of protrusions between the first alignment layer and the liquid crystal layer, wherein the first alignment layer includes a photoinitiator, wherein the plurality of protrusions include a polymerization product of the photoinitiator, a reactive mesogen, and a vertical alignment additive, and the vertical alignment additive may be less reactive than the photoinitiator.

A liquid crystal display is provided and includes first substrate; data and gate lines on first substrate; thin film transistor connected to data and gate lines; common electrode arranged over data and gate lines; insulating layer on common electrode; pixel electrode on insulating layer including connection pixel electrode, wide projection pixel electrode connected to connection pixel electrode, and projection pixel electrodes connected to connection pixel electrode; second substrate facing first substrate; black matrix on second substrate including first and second black matrix; and liquid crystal layer sandwiches between first and second substrates, wherein first black matrix overlaps wide projection pixel electrode, and second black matrix overlaps connection pixel electrode, and length of the connection pixel electrode is longer than length of the wide projection pixel electrode and length of projection pixel electrodes.

A tunable liquid crystal (LC) device includes an LC layer between a pair of reflectors forming an optical cavity. The reflectors include conductive layers for applying an electrical signal to the LC layer. One of the conductive layers may include an array of conductive pixels for spatially selective control of the effective refractive index of the LC layer. The phase delay introduced by the LC layer may be greatly increased or magnified by placing the LC layer into the optical cavity. This enables a substantial reduction of the LC layer thickness, which in its turn enables very tight pitches of the LC pixels, with a reduced inter-pixel crosstalk caused by fringing electric fields, as well as faster switching times. A tight-pitch, fast LC device may be used as a configurable hologram or a spatial light modulator.

A liquid crystal panel is provided and includes first and second substrates with liquid crystal layer therebetween; and first electrode in display region; second electrode disposed between first electrode and first substrate; and alignment film having alignment direction, wherein first electrode has: pair of electrode branches; slit between pair of electrode branches; first and second connections connecting pair of electrode branches; wherein first electrode has areas including first and second bent portions, main portion disposed between first and second bent portions, wherein first bent portion is adjacent to contact hole of first electrode, wherein first and second bent portions are bent relative to main portion, and wherein direction of first bent portion is substantially parallel to direction of second bent portion.

There is provided a holographic projector comprising a reflective liquid crystal display device. The reflective liquid crystal display device comprises a light-modulating layer between a first substrate and a second substrate substantially parallel to the first substrate. The light-modulating layer comprises planar-aligned nematic liquid crystals having positive dielectric anisotropy. The first substrate is substantially transparent and comprises a first alignment layer arranged to impart a first pre-tilt angle θ.sub.l on liquid crystals proximate the first substrate, wherein θ.sub.1>5°. The second substrate is substantially reflective and comprises a second alignment layer arranged to impart a second pre-tilt angle Θ.sub.2 on liquid crystals proximate the second substrate, wherein θ.sub.2>5°. The reflective liquid crystal display device further comprises a plurality of pixels defined on the light-modulating layer having a pixel repeat distance x, wherein x≤10 μm. The distance d between inside faces of the first substrate and second substrate satisfies 0.5 μm≤d≤3 μm, and the birefringence of the liquid crystal Δη≥0.20. The holographic projector further comprises a display driver arranged to drive the reflective liquid crystal display device to display a hologram by independently-driving each pixel at a respective modulation level selected from a plurality of modulation levels having a phase modulation value.

A liquid crystal mixture is disclosed that has a certain rotational sense when placed in a liquid crystal device and an opposite rotational sense when removed from the liquid crystal device. The liquid crystal mixture may be utilized, for example, in liquid crystal displays to achieve high contrast and to reduce potential defects and misalignments.

A liquid crystal display panel performs displaying in the normally white mode. A first and a second polarizer are disposed so that the transmission axes thereof are perpendicular to each other. A liquid crystal layer is in a twisted alignment state in the absence of an applied voltage. A first substrate has a first electrode having a plurality of rectangular openings extending in parallel to each other, and a second electrode facing the first electrode with a dielectric layer interposed therebetween. The openings each independently have a width S of more than 0.6 μm and not more than 1.4 μm, and each pair of adjacent openings independently has a distance L therebetween of not less than 0.3 μm and not more than 0.7 μm. A first and a second horizontal alignment film each have an azimuthal anchoring energy of not more than 1×10.sup.−4J/m.sup.2.

A tunable liquid crystal (LC) device includes an LC layer between a pair of reflectors forming an optical cavity. The reflectors include conductive layers for applying an electrical signal to the LC layer. One of the conductive layers may include an array of conductive pixels for spatially selective control of the effective refractive index of the LC layer. The phase delay introduced by the LC layer may be greatly increased or magnified by placing the LC layer into the optical cavity. This enables a substantial reduction of the LC layer thickness, which in its turn enables very tight pitches of the LC pixels, with a reduced inter-pixel crosstalk caused by fringing electric fields, as well as faster switching times. A tight-pitch, fast LC device may be used as a configurable hologram or a spatial light modulator.

A reflective-type liquid crystal display device includes: a first substrate including a light-reflective first electrode; a second substrate including a light-transmissive second electrode; a liquid crystal layer that is provided between the first electrode and the second electrode and takes a generally vertical alignment during black display; a polarizing layer provided on a viewer side of the second substrate; and a first retardation layer, a second retardation layer and a third retardation layer that are arranged in this order from a side of the polarizing layer, wherein 40°≤|θ3−2×θ2+2×θ1|≤50°, 130°≤|θ3−2×θ2+2×θ1|≤140°, 220°≤|θ3−2×θ2+2×θ1|≤230° or 310°≤|θ3−2×θ2+2×θ1|≤320° is satisfied, where θ1 denotes an angle formed between an absorption axis or a transmission axis of the polarizing layer and a slow axis of the first retardation layer, θ2 an angle formed between the absorption axis or the transmission axis of the polarizing layer and the slow axis of second retardation layer, and θ3 an angle formed between the absorption axis or the transmission axis of the polarizing layer and the slow axis of the third retardation layer.

A wearable display system includes an eyepiece stack having a world side and a user side opposite the world side. During use, a user positioned on the user side views displayed images delivered by the wearable display system via the eyepiece stack which augment the user's field of view of the user's environment. The system also includes an optical attenuator arranged on the world side of the of the eyepiece stack, the optical attenuator having a layer of a birefringent material having a plurality of domains each having a principal optic axis oriented in a corresponding direction different from the direction of other domains. Each domain of the optical attenuator reduces transmission of visible light incident on the optical attenuator for a corresponding different range of angles of incidence.