Orientational control of liquid crystal molecules by reformed poly(dimethylsiloxane) alignment layer via ion-beam irradiation

▶ This paper introduces the fact that poly(dimethylsiloxane) alignment layers contain two liquid crystal molecular orientations, as follows: vertical orientation and homogeneous orientation via changing the intensity of ion-beam irradiation. ▶ We have demonstrated how an analysis of the proper ion beam intensity conditions for both alignment layers can be applied to two different LCD modes, the vertical alignment mode and twisted nematic mode. ▶ We show that IB irradiation on PDMS layers could be used to fit the different types of LCs, with control of the degree of chemical reformation by varying the IB energy. ▶ The mechanism of alignment for both cases would be depends on the dielectric anisotropy of the layer in which Si-C bonds are replaced by Si-O.