Electro-optic characteristic of fringe-field switching mode depending on rubbing direction

A recently developed new liquid crystal display, which operates in the fringe-field switching mode, is known to exhibit high transmittance as well as a wide viewing angle unlike the conventional in-plane switching (IPS) mode display. The device shows unique electro-optic behavior, nevertheless the liquid crystal director rotates almost in-plane as in the IPS mode. We found that light efficiency decreases as the rubbing angle with respect to the horizontal component of the fringe field decreases for a liquid crystal with positive dielectric anisotropy, whereas this is not observed for a device driven by the in-plane field. In this paper, the switching mechanism and voltage-dependent transmittance characteristics with respect to rubbing directions have been investigated.