Bistable Light Shutter Using Dye-doped Cholesteric Liquid Crystals Driven with Crossed Patterned Electrodes

To reduce power consumption by light shutters, bistable light shutters using cholesteric liquid crystal have been proposed. However, these bistable light shutters, which utilize the scattering of the incident light, are switchable only between transparent and translucent states. In this work, we successfully demonstrate a bistable light shutter that is switchable between transparent and opaque states because it utilizes not only scattering, but also the absorption of the incident light. We hide the objects behind a display panel and provide black color by switching the light shutter that is positioned at the backside of a see-through display. We realized a good opaque state by optimization of the electrode structure.