Rechercher
What hides behind our screens
Did you know ? Our homes are filled with liquid crystal-based materials. They are hiding inside our illuminated screens : alarm clock, computer, television, mobile phone or laptop, etc.
These screens use the light orientation properties of liquid crystals, and particularly the property known as "birefringence", due to their elongated aspect at molecular level.
But to ensure that all molecules are oriented parallel to one other, one must rely on external agents : the surfaces on which liquid crystals are deposited. This phenomenon, which characterizes the interaction between interfaces and liquid crystals is called anchoring, a research topic studied among others by the team "Physico-chemistry of functional surfaces" of the Paris Nanosciences Institute.
More concretely, to switch the pixel of a screen on or off, one applies an electric field that rotates the orientation of the molecules in relation to the orientation initially imposed by the surfaces, so that the light that travelled through the material before is no longer able to do so.
Institut des nanosciences de Paris, CNRS-Université Paris 6
Facebook
Twitter