Cholesteric liquid crystals have the property of maintaining several different optical states in the absence of electrical field. Additionally, cholesteric liquid crystals can change optical states in response to applied electrical and/or thermal fields. Those properties make them useful in the development of field stable, re-writable displays.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,401,262 issued Sep. 10, 1968 to Fergason et al. discloses a cathode ray tube to apply light to a screen. The screen has a photoconductive layer that is excited by an electrical field applied by fine leads across the photoconductive layer. The screen has a layer of a temperature sensitive cholesteric material that changes reflective wavelength with slight changes in temperature, and changes hue in heated areas. Light from the cathode ray tube strikes the photoconductor layer, creating heat that can be used to selectively change the color of the sheet of cholesteric material. The system uses a complex cathode ray tube and a photoconductor layer and ceases to present an image in the absence of an electrical field.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,578,844 issued May 18, 1971 to Churchill discloses a sheet of gelatin encapsulated cholesteric material without a photosensitive layer. The sheet is put into a first reflective state by heating. Portions of the sheet are written into a black (clear) state by the application of DC fields. The sheet is heated to reset the display. The encapsulated material in the sheet retained written information without fade at ambient conditions for eight weeks.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,789,225 issued Jan. 29, 1974 to Leder discloses a glassy cholesteric liquid crystal between glass plates. Glassy liquid crystal materials are solidified liquid crystals in an orderly state at ambient temperatures. They are not responsive to electrical fields in the glassy state. The apparatus writes the sheet to an initial state by heating the material above the isotropic (liquid) transition point. As the material is cooled, a high intensity xenon flash lamp is used to disturb the material so that flash disturbed areas solidify into a state different than areas not receiving flash energy. The imaging system requires that the materials be raised to a high temperature, and cooled at a fast rate in the presence of selective high intensity flash light. No electrical fields are applied to the media.
Conventional, non glassy liquid crystals have the property of being electrically driven between a planar state reflecting a specific visible wavelength of light and a light scattering focal conic state at ambient temperatures. Chiral nematic liquid crystals, also known as cholesteric liquid crystals have the capacity of maintaining one of multiple given states in the absence of an electric field. U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,811 issued Aug. 1, 1995 to Doane et al. discloses a light modulating cell having a polymer dispersed chiral nematic liquid crystal. The chiral nematic liquid crystal has the property of being driven between a planar state reflecting a specific visible wavelength of light and a weakly light scattering focal conic state. Chiral nematic liquid crystals, also known as cholesteric liquid crystals, have the capacity of maintaining one of multiple given states in the absence of an electric field. The Doane et al. patent discloses the use of only electrical fields to change the optical state of cholesteric liquid crystals. The technology writes image data line sequentially. Sequentially writing data lines is slow compared to writing all pixels at once and requires electrical drivers on each column and row line.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,268,840 issued Aug. 1, 1995 to Huang discloses phased drive signals applied to a cholesteric display incorporating multiple voltage levels applied to the material in a sequence. A first preparation phase forces cholesteric liquid crystal into the homeotropic state. In the selection phase, sequential lines of data have the one of two voltages applied to each pixel. A lower voltage applies a moderate voltage level to the liquid crystal to unwritten lines and for a period after all lines are written. The process is applicable to sequentially writing lines of cholesteric material using electrical fields, however the lines must be electrically written sequentially.
Yamamoto et al. in A Novel Photoaddressable Electronic Paper Utilizing Cholesteric LC Microcapsules and Organic Photoconductor, SID 2001 DIGEST, pp. 362-365, create an electronic paper having a photoconductive layer and a polymer encapsulated cholesteric liquid crystal that is field responsive at ambient temperatures. A high electrical field is applied across both layers, and the photoconductive layer provides a bias voltage in the presence of light. The high and low field states across the material write cholesteric material into different optical states.
Prior art light sensitive sheets have required expensive and complex photosensitive layers for operation. Electrical drive systems must write data sequentially, requiring complex electronic drives. Glassy liquid crystals change state with the application of large amounts of heat and no electrical field. There is a need therefore for a light written sheet that could have image data written simultaneously without a photosensitive layer at low temperatures.