Patent ID: 6671019
Filing Date: 2003-12-30
Classification: G02F

Abstract:
A liquid crystal cell comprising:a) first and second substrates spaced apart by a distance t and a liquid crystal material disposed therebetween; b) first and second electrodes disposed on said first and second substrates, respectively, and connected to a power supply, at least one of said first and second electrodes having at least one pixel defined by dimensions in a plane parallel to the plane of said substrate, said pixel further including at least one non-conducting gap therein, said at least one non-conducting gap being a small scale gap having at least one dimension in the plane of the electrode that does not exceed about 2.5 times the distance t; and, c) said at least one pixel, when in a field-on condition in cooperation with the other of said first or second electrode, contains an electric field effective to produce at least one liquid crystal domain having dimensions in a plane parallel to the plane of said substrates within which said liquid crystal molecules have an azimuthal orientation with predominantly the same sign and direction, and wherein at least a portion of said small scale gap is disposed within said domain at least about 1 times the distance t from the boundaries of said domain.