Author Description

The presence of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) marks the advances in mobile phones and television development over the last few decades. Japanese companies were the first to commercialize passive-matrix TNLCDs and, later on, high-resolution activematrix LCDs. Prof. Shunsuke Kobayashi has made essential contributions to Japan's prominence in LCD development throughout this period. He is well-known not only for his own groundbreaking research, but also for the training of many prominent figures in the display industry, both in Japan and in other countries. This book brings together many prominent researchers in the field of liquid crystal science and technology, to share with us the key developments in LCD over the last few decades. It comprises of five categories — from basic physics and chemistry of liquid crystals, to detailed descriptions of alignment technologies, wide viewing angle technologies, LC optics, and display applications. Contents: Reminiscences: Introduction: Memories of 43 Years of Liquid Crystal Research (Shunsuke Kobayashi) LC Materials: Symmetry and the Physical Properties of Liquid Crystals (Tom C Lubensky) Defect Textures of Liquid Crystals (Stephen James Cowling, Edward James Davis, Richard John Mandle and John William Goodby) Electric Birefringence in the Isotropic Phase of Nematic Liquid Crystals (Shohei Naemura) Development History of Liquid Crystal Displays and Its Materials (Matthias Bremer, Melanie Klasen-Memmer and Kazuaki Tarumi) Cholesteric Blue Phases Under Confinement: Skyrmion Lattices and Other Exotic Defect Structures (Jun-ichi Fukuda and Slobodan Žumer) Smectic Liquid Crystals and Their Display Uses (Akihiro Mochizuki) Alignment Technologies: Nanostructured Alignment Surfaces for Liquid Crystals (Hoi-Sing Kwok, Jacob Y L Ho, Yuet-Wing Li, Chu