FAST BISTABLE NEMATIC DISPLAY WITH GREY-SCALE

We present a novel principle for a fast bistable nematic display with intrinsic grey scale. The geometry of a single pixel is the usual hybr id texture in between two conductive flat plates. The device is writte n by creating surface walls when an electric field is applied, above t he thresholds to achieve both the planar anchoring breaking and an ele ctro-hydrodynamic flow. Erasing is obtained by simply breaking the anc horing in absence of vortices. The distorted regions around surface wa lls depolarize the incident light. As the surface defect density can b e modulated, a grey scale is achieved. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(97)00950-9].