Polymer and azo-dye composite: a photo-alignment layer for liquid crystals

In this article, we disclose a method to fabricate polymer-stabilised azo-dye photo alignment layers for liquid crystal. The idea includes the introduction of polymer network in the alignment layer, in optimal concentration, followed by two-step irradiation. The stabilised photo-alignment layer has been explored for different aspects of the display-related parameters, viz. anchoring energy, stability for various display-related environments as a function of concentration of monomer and irradiation, residual DC and voltage holding ratio. The composite photo-alignment layer offers well-suited parameters for the liquid crystal alignment and therefore could find application in a variety of modern photonic and display devices.