A twisted nematic or long pitch cholestric liquid crystal is aligned by means of an asymmetric grating or groove structure. The grating may be formed by interferography, photolithography, embossing, ruling or carrier layer transfer. The nature of the groove structure may vary in different pixels or different areas of a pixel. To independently control the azimuthal anchoring energy the grating may be coated with a surfactant such as lethecin.
Liquid crystal alignment