A tunable film apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes: first and second layers; a tunable liquid crystal layer disposed between the first and second layers; and a tuner configured to tune the liquid crystal layer to adjust a light diffusing angle of the tunable liquid crystal layer.

A LC lens and a liquid-crystal medium used in said LC lens, wherein the medium contains one or more compounds of each of formulae I and II

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A liquid crystal material for a liquid crystal display panel is used to form a polymer film on a substrate on which no PI layer is provided so as to realize normal display of the liquid crystal panel. Meanwhile, realiability of the panel can be improved, a voltage holding rate can be improved, and poor alignment of the self-alignment liquid crystal material, afterimage, and other problems can be solved.

The present invention relates to liquid-crystalline media (LC media) having negative or positive dielectric anisotropy, comprising a low-molecular-weight component and a polymerizable component. The polymerizable component comprises self-aligning, polymerizable mesogens (polymerizable self-alignment additives) which effect homeotropic (vertical) alignment of the LC media at a surface or the cell walls of a liquid-crystal display (LC display). The invention therefore also encompasses LC displays having homeotropic alignment of the LC medium without alignment layers. The invention discloses novel structures for self-alignment additives which have a certain position of the functional groups.

Solid foam structures having multiple compartments comprising mesogenic ligand-functionalized nanoparticles are provided. Compositions that include these structures, as well as methods of making the structures are also provided. The structures, compositions and methods find use in a variety of applications, such as, photonics, luminescent coatings and multi-compartment encapsulation technologies.

The present invention discloses a compound of which a structural formula thereof is represented as the following formula

The compound disclosed by the present invention can be used as a liquid crystal compound and overcomes the problem that solubility of the traditional dibenzothiophene-class liquid crystals is poor, and thus can be better applied to the liquid crystal material field. The present invention further discloses a liquid crystal medium containing the compound and an application thereof.

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The present invention relates to liquid-crystalline media (LC media) having negative or positive dielectric anisotropy comprising self-aligning mesogens (SAMs) which effect homeotropic (vertical) alignment of the LC media at a surface or the cell walls of a liquid-crystal display (LC display). The invention therefore also encompasses LC displays having homeotropic alignment of the liquid-crystalline medium (LC medium) without conventional imide alignment layers. The LC media may be supplemented by a polymerisable or polymerised component, which serves for stabilisation of the alignment, for adjustment of the tilt angle and/or as passivation layer.

Liquid-crystalline media (LC media) comprising self-aligning mesogens (self-alignment additives) which effect homeotropic (vertical) alignment of the LC media at a surface or the cell walls of a liquid-crystal display (LC display). The self-alignment additives contain five-ring systems. LC displays having homeotropic alignment of the liquid-crystalline medium (LC medium) without conventional alignment layers are provided.

A liquid crystal composition including liquid crystalline compounds, polymerizable compounds, and dichroic dyes in which the polymerizable compound includes at least one compound represented by Formula (1),

R.sup.11-MES-Sp.sup.11-P.sup.11(1)

in Formula (1), R.sup.11 is an alkyl group having 1 to 15 carbon atoms; MES is a mesogenic group having at least one ring, and in the ring in MES, at least one hydrogen atom is optionally substituted with -Sp.sup.11-P.sup.11; Sp.sup.11 is a single bond or an alkylene group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms, and in this alkylene group, at least one CH.sub.2 is optionally substituted with O, CO, COO, OCO, or OCOO, and at least one (CH.sub.2).sub.2 is optionally substituted with CHCH or CC, and in these groups, at least one hydrogen atom is optionally substituted with a polymerizable group; P.sup.11 is a polymerizable group or a polar group, or a group having both polymerization and polarity.

An actuator device comprises a stack formed from a plurality of photoresponsive layers, which deform in response to light, which are partitioned by respective deformable non-photoresponsive layers. The deformable non-photoresponsive layers guide light between and to the photoresponsive layers, and can follow the deformation of the photoresponsive layers.