Series on Information Display Series

LCD Optical Performance and Measurement

by H. Wohler, etc., M.E. Becker, and J. Neumeiar

Published 28 October 1997

In a world of rapidly increasing exchange of information, the need for visual display of such information feeds the development of low-power displays, for which LCD technology seems a good choice. The first part of this book aims to establish an understanding of the optical properties of liquid crystal structures as they are commonly used for visualization of information. In the first step, the deformation of aligned configurations of liquid crystals in external fields and methods for its computation are introduced. In the second step, the basic concepts for describing and visualizing light propagation in anisotropic media are presented. Such a knowledge is a prerequisite for efficient optimization of the optical performance of LCDs. The second part of this book introduces methods for adequately measuring, characterizing and comparing the optical performance of display devices using liquid crystals. After a summary of the basics of radiometry and photometry and a review of the optical performance of LCDs, methods are shown that avoid the specific problems usually encountered in optical measurements of LCDs.
A variety of LCD electrooptical features and characteristics together with specifications for the respective measurement procedures are presented in order to make the results comparable.