Reflective cholesteric display: principle and progress

Summary form only given. Cholesteric liquid crystals exhibit two stable states at zero field: the reflecting planar texture and non-reflecting focal conic texture. Because of the bistability, Ch liquid crystals can be used to make multiplexed displays on passive matrices. They do not need power-hungry backlights and reflect ambient light. Also because of the bistability, they do not need to be addressed constantly to display static images. Ch liquid crystals can also be encapsulated to make flexible displays with flexible plastic substrates, making the displays rugged and light-weight. Furthermore they can be fabricated in roll-to-roll process to make large area displays. Cholesteric reflective displays have the merits of energy-saving and low manufacturing cost.