Nearly homeotropically aligned four-domain liquid crystal display with wide viewing angle

A new type of nearly homeotropically aligned four-domain liquid crystal display has been developed using nematic liquid crystals with negative dielectric anisotropy. In this display a pixel is divided into four domains which have different and optically compensating molecular alignment properties. This molecular arrangement gives much improved electro optic characteristics over the conventional mono-domain liquid crystal displays and there are no disclinations between the domains. We have found that the director configurations in these domains produces something closer to an electrically controlled birefringence mode than a twisted nematic mode, hence the effective optical retardation is lower at the brightest state. Therefore, this display gives a much wider viewing angle than other types of multi-domain liquid crystal displays.