View source for Ferroelectric liquid crystal display

'''Ferroelectric liquid-crystal display''' (FLCD) is a display technology based on the [[ferroelectricity|ferroelectric]] properties of chiral smectic [[liquid crystal]]s as proposed in 1980 by Clark and Lagerwall.<ref>Noel A. Clark, Sven Torbjörn Lagerwall (1980). "Submicrosecond Bistable Electro-Optic Switching in Liquid Crystals". Applied Physics Letters 36 (11): 899. {{Bibcode|1980ApPhL..36..899C}}. {{doi|10.1063/1.91359}}</ref> Reportedly discovered in 1975, several companies pursued the development of FLCD technologies, notably [[Canon Inc.|Canon]] and [[Central Research Laboratories]] (CRL), along with others including [[Seiko]], [[Sharp Corporation|Sharp]], [[Mitsubishi]] and [[General Electric Company|GEC]]. Canon and CRL pursued different technological approaches with regard to the switching of display cells, these providing the individual [[pixel|pixels]] or subpixels, and the production of intermediate pixel intensities between full transparency and full opacity, these differing approaches being adopted by other companies seeking to develop FLCD products.<ref name="pcw199310_crt">{{cite magazine |title=The CRT challenge |magazine=Personal Computer World |last1=Cole |first1=George |date=October 1993 |pages=362–365 }}</ref>

==Development==
By 1985, Seiko had already demonstrated a colour FLCD panel able to display a 10-inch diagonal still image with a resolution of {{nowrap|640 x 400}}. By 1993, Canon had delivered the first commercial application of the technology in its EZPS Japanese-language desktop publishing system in the form of a 15-inch monochrome display with a reported cost of around £2,000, and the company demonstrated a 21-inch 64-colour display and a 24-inch 16-greyscale display, both with a {{nowrap|1280 x 1024}} resolution and able to show "GUI software with multiple windows". Other applications included projectors, viewfinders and printers.<ref name="pcw199310_crt" />

The FLCD did not make many inroads as a direct view display device. Manufacturing of larger FLCDs was problematic making them unable to compete against direct view LCDs based on nematic liquid crystals using the [[Twisted nematic field effect]] or [[IPS panel|In-Plane Switching]]. Today, the FLCD is used in reflective microdisplays based on [[Liquid Crystal on Silicon]] technology. Using ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) in F[[LCoS]] technology allows a much smaller display area which eliminates the problems of manufacturing larger area FLC displays.  Additionally, the [[dot pitch]] or pixel pitch of such displays can be as low as 6&nbsp;μm giving a very high [[Display resolution|resolution]] display in a small area. To produce color and grey-scale, time multiplexing is used, exploiting the sub-millisecond switching time of the ferroelectric liquid crystal.

==Application==
The microdisplays find applications in 3D [[head mounted display]]s (HMDs), image insertion in surgical microscopes, and electronic [[viewfinder]]s where direct-view LCDs fail to provide more than 600 ppi resolution. Ferroelectric LCoS also finds commercial uses in [[Structured illumination]] for 3D-[[Metrology]] and [[Super-resolution microscopy]]. Some commercial products use FLCD.<ref>[http://www.yunamoptics.com/main.htm?page=menu2_e&sub=yunam_m2_e FLCD : Ferro-Electric Liquid Crystal Display - Yunam Optics]</ref><ref>[http://www.forthdd.com Forth Dimension Displays]</ref> High switching speed allows building [[optical switch]]es and shutters in [[Computer printer|printer]] heads.<ref>[http://www.wtec.org/loyola/dsply_jp/c4_s6.htm WTEC Library]</ref>

==See also==
* [[Segmented liquid-crystal display]]

==References==
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{{Display technology}}
{{emerging technologies|displays=yes}}

[[Category:Liquid crystal displays]]
[[Category:Display technology]]