Engineering Defect Dynamics in Liquid Crystal Cells – Rolfe Petschek
Date: Mon. February 5th, 2007, 12:30 pm-1:30 pmLocation: Rockefeller 221
Defects and slow dynamics of defects in a type of liquid crystal cell that allows the manufacture of wide-viewing angle flat panel liquid crystal displays is a very significant problem or “deal breaker”. I will describe the physics of this cell and its planar degenerate (“XY”-like) order parameter. How and if the dynamics of defects in this order parameter can be changed with reasonable (manufactureable) changes in the liquid crystal cell is of significant practical as well as scientific interest. Gaps in the electrodes, easily realized by lithography, result effective fields on the XY order parameter and allow manufacture of such cells. The physics involved in such designs will be briefly described.