MULTIPAGE DISPLAY USING STACKED POLYMER-DISPERSED LIQUID-CRYSTAL FILMS

This paper describes a unique multipage display, in which several images can be formed simultaneously through the pages and a desired page or pages can be displayed instantly. The multipage display consists of a stack of polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films. The images are formed using an electric-field-assisted thermal process, and they consist of opaque and transparent regions. Because opaque regions can be electrically switched to transparent ones without heating, the desired page(s) can be observed through the transparent pages. All the images are written through the films simultaneously using an infrared laser beam to heat selected regions all the way through the stack. The voltages applied separately to each film are controlled by the input data. Regions cooled with a field become transparent, but regions cooled without a field become opaque.