OPTICAL-PERFORMANCE OF LIQUID-CRYSTAL CELLS WITH ASYMMETRIC SLIT-PATTERNED ELECTRODES IN VARIOUS APPLIED-FIELD CONFIGURATIONS

The performance of liquid crystal (LC) cells with asymmetric slit-patt erned electrode structures in various applied field configurations is studied in detail, by measuring the interference fringe patterns and s imulating the two-dimensional director distributions of liquid crystal by a finite element method (FEM). We investigate the molecular orient ation effects in inhomogeneous electric fields and the optical propert ies of these cells as cylindrical microlenses, and show that disclinat ions, which deteriorate the lens properties, can be eliminated by adop ting an appropriate applied field configuration.