Patent ID: 7326449

Claim:
A liquid crystal device comprising first and second opposed spaced-apart cell walls enclosing a layer of a liquid crystal material, electrodes on at least one cell wall for applying an electric field across at least some of the liquid crystal material, at least a part of the inner surface of the first cell wall including a polymerised aligned mesogenic material first surface layer having an order parameter, and at least a part of the inner surface of the second cell wall including a polymerized aligned mesogenic material second surface layer having an order parameter different form the order parameter of the first surface layer, which surface layers are in contact with the liquid crystal material at first and second interfaces respectively; the anchoring energy at the first interface differing from the anchoring energy at the second interface, wherein control of the anchoring energy at each of the interfaces between the liquid crystal material and the surface layers by control of the order parameter is independent of tilt direction and angle of the liquid crystal material.