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A cholesteric liquid-crystal display is a display containing a liquid crystal with a helical structure and which is therefore chiral. Cholesteric liquid crystals are also known as chiral nematic liquid crystals. They organize in layers with no positional ordering within layers, but a director axis which varies with layers. The variation of the director axis tends to be periodic in nature. The period of this variation is known as the pitch, p. This pitch determines the wavelength of light which is reflected.
The technology is characterized by stable states i.e. focal conic state and planar state. Displays based on this technology are called “bistable” and don’t need any power to maintain the information. Because of the reflective nature of the ChLCD, these displays can be perfectly read under sunlight conditions.
Examples of compounds known to form cholesteric phases are hydroxypropyl cellulose and cholesteryl benzoate.
Some companies, such as Chiral Photonics, have begun to explore CLCs as the basis for photonic devices.