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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: GR/R24555/01
Title: Novel Nematic Liquid Crystal Displays
Principal Investigator: Raynes, Professor EP
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Merck Ltd Sharp Laboratories of Europe Ltd
Department: Engineering Science
Organisation: University of Oxford
Scheme: Fast Stream
Starts: 01 January 2001 Ends: 30 June 2003 Value (£): 52,203
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Energy Efficiency Materials Characterisation
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Electronics
Related Grants:
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
The large and growing Flat Panel Display Market is dominated by LCDs, but alternative technologies are emerging and new LCDs based on novel materials and configurations are needed if LCDs are to maintain their pre-eminent position. This proposal is for equipment to support two new existing research activities investigating two novel LCDs. One of these is based on Polymer Network/Liquid Crystal combinations which offer new alignments and configurations not previously possible and are expected to result in much improved display performance. The proposal is for research aimed at understanding of the basic interactions by which the Polymer Network aligns the Liquid Crystal material. The other novel device configuration is based on the Surface Stabilised Cholesteric Texture Display in which a highly twisting chiral dopant is added to a nematic Liquid Crystal to induce bistability and memory between two stable states. These displays are already attracting considerable interest for applications such as mobile phones and smartcards where the low power consumption resulting from the memory in the display is seen as a key advantage. The switching mechanisms are complex and we propose examining and understanding them and using the knowledge gained to improve the display performance by optimising the device construction, the physical properties of the liquid crystal material and the multiplexing drive schemes. The optical study of the switching mechanisms of both display devices requires a similar range of experimental facilities and the equipment will be used by both sets of studies.
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Organisation Website: http://www.ox.ac.uk