Attainment of Planarly Aligned Liquid Crystal Using Vertical Alignment Polymer Walls

The use of polydimethylsiloxane elastomer as a commanding layer for liquid crystal alignment is studied. The silicon-base elastomer is highly hydrophobic, and found to be capable of vertically aligning liquid crystal. Specific structures can be easily manipulated into the elastomer by means of micro-replica molding technique. Using polydimethylsiloxane walls that are set to be perpendicular to the substrate, a vertical alignment of liquid crystal to the polymer walls can be converted to a planar alignment of the liquid crystal related to the substrate.