Abstract: A manufacturing method of a liquid crystal optical device is provided including an alignment film forming step of forming an alignment film containing silicon oxide on a substrate, and a liquid crystal cell forming step of disposing a pair of substrates at least one of which the alignment film has been formed on, opposite to each other interposing a liquid crystal therebetween. In the alignment film forming step, the substrate surface is bombarded with a plasma beam generated by vacuum arc discharge using a cathode containing silicon, where the substrate is disposed on the course of the plasma beam obliquely with an angle. When the plasma beam bombards the substrate surface, plasma ions in the plasma beam have higher kinetic energy or higher flux density than plasma ions in a plasma beam which, if bombarding the substrate obliquely at the angle, form a film having a column structure.

Abstract: A method of coating a surface of an article with a chemical vapour deposition coating such as a diamond like carbon by, for example, pulse DC PACVD or RF PACVD, comprising providing an active electrode, shielding the active electrode with a dielectric shield having at least one aperture to permit access to the active electrode, closing the aperture with a dielectricly shielded support post comprising an electively conductive core in electrical communication via the aperture with the active electrode, placing an article to be coated on the dielectricly shielded support post in electrical communication with the electively conductive core and applying a plasma to the article in presence of an electrical current to the article to provide a coating. The article may be, for example, a piston. A contiguous array of a plurality of similar articles may be simultaneously coated by the method.