Light absorption properties of anthraquinone dyes and guest-host liquid crystal displays

The light absorption properties of anthraquinone dye in different hosts are compared in order to demonstrate the influence of the dye-liquid crystal interactions on dye order parameter. Surprisingly, the anthraquinone dye have a higher order parameter in liquid crystalline mixtures of positive dielectric anisotropy as well as in a liquid crystalline mixture of negative dielectric anisotropy (S = 0.71-0.82). We studied the Heilmeier displays use homogeneous alignment. The display is operated at the reverse mode, transparent at zero field. The switching voltage between the bright and dark states for these displays is 2-4 volts, depending on host liquid crystal and cell configuration.