Control of the anchoring energy of rubbed polyimide layers by irradiation with depolarized UV-light

Exposure of rubbing polyimide (PI) film to depolarized ultraviolet (UV) light suppressed the effective anchoring energy of liquid crystal (LC) with aligning surface. Polarized light changed the orientational distribution of PI molecules obtained by rubbing by changing both the anchoring energy and easy axis direction. These results show that ultraviolet exposure can be effectively used to control anchoring parameters.