CHIMIA (Oct 1998)

Polymer-Based Systems for Advanced Optical Applications

  • Cees Bastiaansen,
  • Walter Caseri,
  • Cyril Darribère,
  • Simon Dellsperger,
  • Wilbert Heffels,
  • Andrea Montali,
  • Christian Sarwa,
  • Paul Smith,
  • Christoph Weder

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 52, no. 10

Abstract

Read online

Displays, in many different variations and for a multitude of uses, continue to be an evermore attractive area for industrial activity and academic development. Here, we address the development of polymer-based systems for application in advanced optical devices. More specifically, we report the fabrication and characterization of photoluminescent polarizers based on uniaxially oriented, conjugated polymers and their application in a new family of photoluminescent liquid-crystal displays with substantially increased brightness, contrast, and efficiency. In another development, we show that efficient 'color polarizers' can be produced on the basis of oriented polymer-inorganic nano-composites. It is anticipated that these polarizers enable the fabrication of another new family of LCDs in which multiple colors can be displayed on the same pixel.