NSF Award
9902946
This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project, wire-grid polarizers (WGP), offers performance improvements for crystal displays. They are reflective, inorganic, polarizers which offer brighter, lower-power liquid crystal displays. MOXTEK has pioneered this technology. The Liquid Crystal Institute at Kent State University has facilities to build and test liquid crystal display cells which use wire-grid polarizers. The objective of the Phase I research was to determine the value of wire-grid polarizers in liquid crystal displays. The application of this wire-grid polarizer in liquid crystal devices based on the twist effect enhances the display's brightness and improves the contrast ratio in the case where the device produces a near linear polarization hitting the reflector. These results are encouragings. Building a demonstration display using a wire-grid polarizer is the next stop in the commercialization of an advance liquid crystal display. The successful demonstration of the proposed device will have a powerful impact on the liquid crystal display industry. Thus, the objective of this phase II project is to develop a demonstration liquid crystal display. This experimental display will be used to show the superiority of this technology for key companies in the display industry.<br/> The key application of this research will be in the field of information display technologies. Currently, this means computer displays and TV, but this market is expanding and will soon impact communications, navigation, travel, etc. The research will be key in developing low-power flat panel displays of all types as required for the revolutionary information applications coming over the next 10 years.
