Abstract: A liquid crystal display which includes a pair of substrates, a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the pair of substrates, and electrodes respectively formed on facing surfaces of the pair of substrates for applying an electric field to each pixel. A first alignment film is formed on the surface of one of the pair of substrates and covers the electrodes formed thereon. The first alignment film aligns the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer in a direction generally vertical to a plane of the substrates. A second alignment film is formed on the surface of the other of the pair of substrates and covers the electrodes formed thereon. The second alignment film aligns the liquid crystal molecules in a direction generally parallel to the plane of the substrates and gives a pre-tilt to the liquid crystal molecules.

Abstract: A liquid crystal display cell comprising a pair of substrates, a liquid crystal material sandwiched between the pair of substrates, and an optical polarization memory film provided on one or both of the substrates. The optical polarization memory film is exposed by polarized lights to produce a positive orientation means including a multiple micro domains. In the micro domains, orientation direction is uniform in each domain and substantially isotropic as a whole. The visual angular dependency is eliminated. No rubbing treatment is done, and problems caused by rubbing can be solved.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an optical waveguide type synaptic weight modulator with a nematic liquid crystal cladding layer. The modulator can be used for optronics and optical neural computing. The modulator includes a multichannel waveguide provided on a glass substrate, electrodes which are provided on the glass substrate and which sandwich the channels of the waveguide, a nematic liquid crystal cladding layer provided perpendicularly to the waveguide and electrodes, a control power supply connected to the electrodes, a light source prism coupled to the waveguide, and a multimode fiber end surface coupling an output of the waveguide to a photomultiplier. The nematic liquid crystal cladding layer provides an electrooptical effect and is fixed by an orientation film.