Stability in the memory state of the silica nanoparticle-doped hybrid aligned nematic device

Abstract

We investigate the stability in the memory state of the silica nanoparticle doped hybrid aligned nematic (SN-HAN) cell. The mixed polyimide (PI)-coated planar substrate provides the SN-HAN cell with a stable memory state. The mixed PI comprises the homogeneous PI and small amounts of the homeotropic PI (H-PI). The tiny H-PI dopant decreases the surface energy, increases the roughness of the planar substrate, and increases the pretilt angle of the liquid crystals (LCs). When the pretilt angle is high, the relaxation torque that rewinds the LCs from the electrically addressed homeotropic state to the originally HAN state is too small to break the formed aggregated silica networks, which stabilize the LCs at the electrically addressed homeotropic state. Consequently, the memory state of the SN-HAN cell is stable when the pretilt angle of the LCs is high.