Liquid Crystals
Liquid Crystals have been a fundamental part of Sharp since the introduction of the Sharp EL-805 calculator with an LCD in 1973. Sharp Laboratories of Europe has been playing a vital role in Sharp's global R&D in liquid crystals since 1990.
Liquid crystal materials are generally organic materials which occupy a state of matter in between liquid and solid, in which the materials are fluid but possess some intermolecular ordering. Liquid crystal devices are made from anisotropic organic molecules, which can change orientation on application of an applied voltage. Using this simple concept transmissive or reflective electro-optic shutters and displays can be made.
Liquid crystal displays have excellent image quality and show many features not possible in other display technologies, such as light weight, thinness and low power consumption. They have also become the display of choice in many areas, even surpassing performance of the ubiquitous cathode ray tube for TV.
However there are enhancements that will offer further improvements, such as control of the viewing angle, switching speed, reduced cost and power consumption and improved resolution.
Current research is aimed at addressing some of these parameters, for example, rapid switching modes for LC TV, reduced power for mobile applications, and novel effects to enable new functionality in displays.
The group also has research into new optical devices using liquid crystals, aimed at non-display applications including imaging and sensing.
