Substrate patterning for liquid crystal alignment by optical interference

Inhomogeneous liquid crystal (LC) alignment surfaces comprising a succession of microdomains favoring different LC alignment directions have been demonstrated for a number of optoelectronic applications. However, the prevalent method used to fabricate these surfaces is time consuming and produce functional areas that are too small for practical use. Here, we demonstrate a simple method based on photopatterning of an azodye layer with an interference pattern produced by intercepting two coherent UV beams. This method can produce alignment patterns within seconds with a practical size of ∼(0.5cm)2.