Different limits of phase separation and their applications

The process of phase separation leads to several well known display technologies such as Polymer Dispersed liquid crystals and Polymer Stabilized cholesteric and ferroelectric devices. Several new limits of the general phenomena of phase separation have been discovered in recent years. In one of the limits, a very simple and powerful process known as the phase separated composite structures method permits the construction of conventional devices; such as, TN, STN, and FLC devices with great ease and with flexible substrates. It has also been employed in the fabrication of one- and two-dimensional optical gratings and fly's eye lenses (micro-lens array) with electrically controllable focal length. In the second limit, one obtains microscopic polymer columns perpendicular to the substrates. These structures have been used to fabricate large area homeotropic nematic devices having very high-contrast.