Bulk-induced alignment of nematic liquid crystals by photopolymerization

A novel technique to produce uniform alignment of nematic liquid crystals is presented. The technique is based on producing an anisotropic polymer network in the bulk nematic liquid crystal by polymerizing a photoresist material. Both uniform planar alignment and homeotropic alignment can be obtained depending on the curing conditions. In the case of planar alignment, the nematic director orientation is governed by the direction of the polarization vector of the linearly polarized ultraviolet light, thus making it possible to produce a defined azimuthal orientation of the nematic director. This technique obviates the need to give any previous treatment to the bounding substrates and as such should be independent of the nature of the substrate.