Improvement of optical characteristics in viewing directions in a reflective cholesteric liquid crystal color filter

The prototype of color filters for the liquid crystal displays (LCD) using cholesteric liquid crystal monomers was produced. Cholesteric liquid crystal is characterized by the unique optical features of selective reflection, which is due to the helical twisting structures of LCs comparable to the wavelength of the incident light under certain conditions of substrate treatment. In the results of the experiment, cholesteric films for red, green, and blue light reflections respectively were produced and the viewing angle dependence of these films were investigated. Reflective light of red and green films shifted to shorter wavelength regions as viewing angle becomes greater, but blue one shifted very little. Periodic micrometer-sized half-spherical photoresist formed by thermal reflow method after photo-lithography was patterned on glass substrates. The viewing angle dependence of reflective light colors of red, green, and blue films on the patterned substrates compared with those on no patterned substrates was investigated. We could confirm the dependences were much smaller on the patterned substrates by bare eyes and Lab-color coordination methods qualitatively.