This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II Project develops a new class of chiral materials, the dioxolanes, which provide unprecedented helical twisting power. When added to a nematic liquid crystal, a concentration of only a few percent is required to twist the nematic phase into a tight helix with a periodicity of the wavelength of light. Because of the low concentration, the chiral additive does not dilute important physical properties of the nematic material required to optimize Cholesteric displays for brightness, contrast, speed and low operating voltages. Being simple molecular structures, dioxolane derivatives can be synthesized in both left and right hand moieties to enable, for the first time, Cholesteric displays that nearly double the reflective brightness to where it approaches that which we are used to seeing from paper. Phase II research has both a basic and an applied component. The basic component studies the helical twisting power and its relationship to the molecular structure of the chiral compounds and host mixtures. The applied component uses this information to design and develop chiral additives for advanced Cholesteric displays for use in electronic books and other handheld devices.
The chiral materials will be used in display products primarily used in handheld devices whee low power, sunlight readability, and wide angle viewing of high resolution, full color images are important. Devices targeted are electronic book, cell phones, pagers, etc.
