CN111580310A

CN111580310A - Liquid crystal lens, manufacturing method thereof and display device

Info

Publication number: CN111580310A
Application number: CN202010560414.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 赵承潭
Original assignee: BOE Technology Group Co Ltd
Current assignee: BOE Technology Group Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-06-18
Filing date: 2020-06-18
Publication date: 2020-08-25
Anticipated expiration: 2040-06-18
Also published as: CN111580310B

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a liquid crystal lens, a manufacturing method thereof and a display device. The liquid crystal lens comprises two substrates which are oppositely arranged and liquid crystal molecules which are positioned between the two substrates; the substrate comprises a first alignment layer and a second alignment layer which are underlayers, the material of the second alignment layer is polymerized by self-orientation liquid crystal material, and the self-orientation liquid crystal material comprises liquid crystal molecules and polymerizable monomers; the first alignment layers of the two substrates are in the same orientation, the second alignment layers of the two substrates are in the same orientation direction, the orientation of the second alignment layers is different from that of the first alignment layers, and orthographic projections of the second alignment layers of the two substrates on a plane parallel to the substrates are mutually overlapped. The liquid crystal lens can be manufactured by firstly carrying out orientation treatment on the first alignment layer and then forming the second alignment layer by utilizing illumination after the alignment, so that the patterned second alignment layers in the two substrates can be completely overlapped, a liquid crystal disorder area in the liquid crystal lens is avoided, and the optical effect of the liquid crystal lens is improved.

Description

Liquid crystal lens, manufacturing method thereof and display device

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of liquid crystal lenses, in particular to a liquid crystal lens, a manufacturing method thereof and a display device.

Background

Compared with the traditional glass lens, the liquid crystal lens has the advantages of variable focus, small volume, thin thickness, long service life and the like. The liquid crystal lens can be influenced by an electric field within a time of tens of milliseconds so as to change the focal position, and has great application potential in monitoring, beam shaping and steering, illumination, adaptive optics, medical imaging and other aspects.

The liquid crystal lens generally comprises two substrates, each substrate is provided with an alignment layer, and in the case of a fresnel liquid crystal lens, the alignment layer in each substrate comprises a plurality of first alignment regions in a concentric ring shape and a second alignment region located between two adjacent first alignment regions, and the alignment of the first alignment regions and the alignment of the second alignment regions are different. Therefore, in the process of joining the two substrates, the first alignment region of one substrate and the first alignment region of the other substrate are easy to be completely overlapped, so that liquid crystal molecules in the region which is not overlapped are disturbed, and the effect of the liquid crystal lens is affected.

Disclosure of Invention

The present application provides a liquid crystal lens, a manufacturing method thereof and a display device, aiming at the disadvantages of the prior art, and is used to solve the technical problem that the first alignment region of one substrate and the second alignment region of the other substrate in the liquid crystal lens in the prior art are not completely overlapped, thereby causing disorder of liquid crystal molecules in the overlapped region.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a liquid crystal lens, where the liquid crystal lens includes two substrates arranged opposite to each other, a sealant adhered between the two substrates, and liquid crystal molecules sealed between the two substrates by the sealant; the base plates comprise substrates, a first alignment layer and a second alignment layer, the first alignment layer is located on one side, close to the other base plate, of each substrate, the second alignment layer is located on one side, far away from the substrates, of the first alignment layer, the second alignment layer comprises a plurality of concentric rings, the circle centers of the concentric rings are located on the main optical axis of the liquid crystal lens, the adjacent concentric rings are separated from each other, so that liquid crystal molecules located in the area between the adjacent concentric rings are in contact with the first alignment layer, the material of the second alignment layer is polymerized from a self-oriented liquid crystal material, and the self-oriented liquid crystal material comprises the liquid crystal molecules and polymerizable monomers; the first alignment layers of the two substrates are aligned in the same direction, the second alignment layers are aligned in a direction different from that of the first alignment layers, and orthographic projections of the second alignment layers of the two substrates on a plane parallel to the substrate are overlapped with each other.

Optionally, the angle between the orientation of each of the concentric rings in the second alignment layer and the orientation of the first alignment layer is 90 °.

Optionally, at least a portion of the concentric rings in the second alignment layer includes at least two annular alignment regions coinciding with centers of the concentric rings, an included angle between an orientation of the annular alignment regions and an orientation of the first alignment layer gradually increases in a direction from the center of the second alignment layer to the periphery, and an included angle between an orientation of each annular alignment region and an orientation of the first alignment layer is 0 ° to 90 °.

Optionally, the substrate further comprises an electrode layer located between the substrate and the first alignment layer.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a display device, which includes the liquid crystal lens described above.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal lens, where the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal lens includes:

providing substrates and forming a liquid crystal box, wherein the liquid crystal box comprises two oppositely arranged substrates, a sealant adhered between the two substrates and a self-orientation liquid crystal material sealed between the two substrate base plates by the sealant, and the self-orientation liquid crystal material comprises liquid crystal molecules and polymerizable monomers; before or after the liquid crystal box is formed, respectively forming first alignment layers on the sides, close to each other, of the two substrates, wherein the first alignment layers formed on the two substrates are in the same orientation;

the liquid crystal box is locally irradiated by ultraviolet light under first power, so that the self-alignment liquid crystal material is subjected to polymerization reaction on the parts irradiated by the ultraviolet light, and second alignment layers are respectively formed on the sides, close to each other, of the two first alignment layers, the second alignment layers comprise a plurality of concentric rings, the centers of the concentric rings are located on the main optical axis of the liquid crystal lens, the adjacent concentric rings are mutually adjacent, so that the liquid crystal molecules in the area between the adjacent concentric rings are in contact with the first alignment layers, and the two second alignment layers are in the same orientation and different from the first alignment layers.

Optionally, the method for manufacturing the liquid crystal lens further includes: and after the second alignment layer is formed, fully irradiating the liquid crystal box by adopting ultraviolet light under second power to consume the residual polymerizable monomer, wherein the second power is less than the first power.

Optionally, before or after forming the liquid crystal cell, forming a first alignment layer on a side where the two substrates are close to each other, respectively, comprising: before the liquid crystal box is formed, forming a layer of alignment material on one side of the substrate, and carrying out illumination or directional friction on the alignment material to form the first alignment layer; or after the liquid crystal box is formed, ultraviolet light is adopted to carry out overall irradiation on the liquid crystal box with third power so as to enable the polymerizable monomers to carry out polymerization reaction and form the first alignment layers on the sides, close to each other, of the two substrates respectively, and the polarization direction of the ultraviolet light with the third power is vertical to the orientation of the first alignment layers.

Optionally, the angle between the orientation of the second alignment layer and the orientation of the first alignment layer is 90 °; locally irradiating the liquid crystal cell with ultraviolet light at a first power, comprising: and controlling the polarization direction of the ultraviolet light with the first power irradiating the liquid crystal box by using a mask plate to form the second alignment layer, wherein the polarization direction of the ultraviolet light is vertical to the orientation of the second alignment layer.

Optionally, each of the concentric rings in the second alignment layer at least includes two annular alignment regions coinciding with centers of the concentric rings, and in a direction from the center of the second alignment layer to the periphery, an included angle between an orientation of the annular alignment region and an orientation of the first alignment layer is gradually increased, and an included angle between an orientation of each of the annular alignment regions and an orientation of the first alignment layer is 0 ° to 90 °; locally irradiating the liquid crystal cell with ultraviolet light at a first power, comprising: controlling ultraviolet light with first power to irradiate the liquid crystal box in a first polarization direction by using a first mask plate so as to form a first annular alignment region in a concentric ring in the second alignment layer, wherein the first polarization direction is vertical to the orientation of the first annular alignment region; and controlling the ultraviolet light with the first power to irradiate the liquid crystal box in a second polarization direction by using a second mask plate so as to form a second annular alignment region in the concentric rings in the second alignment layer, wherein the second polarization direction is vertical to the orientation of the second annular alignment region.

Optionally, the method for manufacturing the liquid crystal lens further includes: before the first alignment layer is formed, an electrode layer is formed on one side of the substrate close to the first alignment layer.

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application has the following beneficial technical effects:

according to the liquid crystal lens, the manufacturing method of the liquid crystal lens and the display device, each substrate in the liquid crystal lens comprises the first alignment layer and the second alignment layer with the orientation different from that of the first alignment layer, and when the liquid crystal lens is manufactured, after the two substrates are combined, the patterned second alignment layer is formed on the first alignment layer by using self-orientation liquid crystal as a raw material through illumination, so that the patterned second alignment layers in the two substrates can be completely overlapped, a liquid crystal disorder area in the liquid crystal lens is avoided, and the diffraction effect of the liquid crystal lens is improved.

Additional aspects and advantages of the present application will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the present application.

Drawings

The foregoing and/or additional aspects and advantages of the present application will become apparent and readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a prior art liquid crystal lens;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a liquid crystal lens according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic top view of a substrate in a liquid crystal lens according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of another liquid crystal lens provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a portion of area A of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is another enlarged partial view of area A of FIG. 4;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a diffraction effect of a fresnel liquid crystal lens according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 8 is a schematic flowchart illustrating a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal lens according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a step S1 of the method for manufacturing the liquid crystal lens shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a step S2 of the method for manufacturing the liquid crystal lens shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a step S3 in the method for manufacturing the liquid crystal lens shown in FIG. 7;

fig. 12 is a schematic flowchart of another method for manufacturing a liquid crystal lens according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 13 is a process flow chart of step S4 in the method for manufacturing the liquid crystal lens shown in fig. 12;

fig. 14 is a schematic top view structure diagram of a mask provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Reference numerals:

1-a substrate; 11-a substrate; 12-an electrode layer; 13-a first alignment layer; 14-a second alignment layer; 141-concentric rings; 1411-a circular alignment zone; 14' -a second alignment material;

2-liquid crystal molecules; RM-polymerizable monomers;

3-sealing glue;

4-a mask plate; 41-shading area; 42-light transmitting region.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to the present application, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the same or similar parts or parts having the same or similar functions throughout. In addition, if a detailed description of the known art is not necessary for illustrating the features of the present application, it is omitted. The embodiments described below with reference to the drawings are exemplary only for the purpose of explaining the present application and are not to be construed as limiting the present application.

It will be understood by those within the art that, unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the prior art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", "the" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes all or any element and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

Liquid crystal lens has extensive application in the demonstration field, and the specially adapted portable equipment, for example three-dimensional display, cell-phone imaging system, wearable demonstration, VR equipment, unmanned aerial vehicle etc..

As shown in fig. 1, the liquid crystal lens generally includes two substrates 1, liquid crystal molecules 2 between the two substrates 1, and a sealant 3 for adhering the two substrates 1. Each of the substrates 1 is provided with an alignment layer, and since the alignment layers 13 of the two substrates 1 each include the first alignment region 131 and the second alignment region 132, in order to ensure a good diffraction effect of the liquid crystal lens, it should be ensured that the first alignment region 131 of one substrate 1 and the first alignment region 131 of the other substrate 1 are completely aligned, and the second alignment region 132 of one substrate 1 and the second alignment region 132 of the other substrate 1 are completely aligned.

As shown in fig. 1, in the actual substrate alignment process, the two substrates 1 usually have an alignment error of 3 μm to 8 μm, and the width of the concentric circles at the outermost periphery of most fresnel liquid crystal lenses is in the range of 3 μm to 20 μm, which makes it easy to produce the regions where the first alignment region 131 (second alignment region 132) of one substrate 1 and the first alignment region 131 (second alignment region 132) of the other substrate 1 do not overlap in the prepared fresnel liquid crystal lenses, and the arrangement of the liquid crystal molecules in these non-overlapping regions is usually disordered, which may seriously affect the effect of the liquid crystal lenses.

The application provides a liquid crystal lens, a manufacturing method thereof and a display device, and aims to solve the technical problems in the prior art.

The following describes the technical solutions of the present application and how to solve the above technical problems with specific embodiments.

As shown in fig. 2 and fig. 3, the liquid crystal lens provided in this embodiment includes two substrates 1 disposed opposite to each other, a sealant 3 adhered between the two substrates 1, and liquid crystal molecules 2 sealed between the two substrates 1 by the sealant 3;

the base plate 1 comprises a substrate 11, a first alignment layer 13 positioned on one side of the substrate 11 close to the other base plate 1 and a second alignment layer 14 positioned on one side of the first alignment layer 13 far away from the substrate 11, the second alignment layer 14 comprises a plurality of concentric rings 141, the centers of the plurality of concentric rings 141 are positioned on the main optical axis of a liquid crystal lens, the adjacent concentric rings 141 are separated from each other so that liquid crystal molecules positioned in the area between the adjacent concentric rings 141 are in contact with the first alignment layer 13, the material of the second alignment layer 141 is polymerized by a self-alignment liquid crystal material, and the self-alignment liquid crystal material comprises liquid crystal molecules and polymerizable monomers;

the first alignment layers 13 of the two substrates 1 are aligned in the same direction, the second alignment layers 14 are aligned in different directions from the first alignment layers 13, and orthographic projections of the second alignment layers 14 of the two substrates 1 on a plane parallel to the substrate 11 are overlapped with each other.

In the liquid crystal lens provided in this embodiment, each substrate includes the first alignment layer 13 and the second alignment layer 14 having a different orientation from the first alignment layer 13, when manufacturing, the first alignment layer 13 may be subjected to an orientation treatment, after the two substrates 1 are combined, the patterned second alignment layer 14 is formed on the first alignment layer 13 by using self-orientation liquid crystal as a raw material through illumination, so as to ensure that the patterned second alignment layers 14 in the two substrates 1 can be completely overlapped, thereby avoiding a liquid crystal disorder region in the liquid crystal lens, and thus improving a diffraction effect of the liquid crystal lens.

It should be noted that, the polymerizable monomer can be selected from a polymerizable monomer containing an acryloxy group or a polymerizable monomer containing a methacryloxy group, and when the self-aligned liquid crystal is irradiated by light with specific parameters, the polymerizable monomer in the self-aligned liquid crystal undergoes a polymerization reaction to form a film capable of interacting with the liquid crystal molecules 2, so that the liquid crystal molecules 2 are orderly arranged according to a set direction. That is, after the two substrates 1 are aligned, the second alignment layer 14 having a specific pattern can be obtained by local light irradiation.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 4, in the liquid crystal lens provided in this embodiment, the substrate 1 further includes an electrode layer 12 located between the substrate 11 and the first alignment layer 13. In the present embodiment, the electrode layer 12 is provided, so that the rotation of the liquid crystal molecules can be controlled, and the focal length and the light transmittance of the liquid crystal lens can be adjusted.

When the liquid crystal lens of the present embodiment does not include an electrode layer, the liquid crystal lens can be regarded as a fresnel lens with a fixed focal length and fixed dimming parameters.

In the fresnel liquid crystal lens provided in the present embodiment, the concentric ring 141 in the second alignment layer 14 may adopt different designs, which will be described in detail below.

In some specific embodiments, as shown in fig. 5, in the liquid crystal lens in the present embodiment, the angle between the orientation of each concentric ring 141 in the second alignment layer 14 and the orientation of the first alignment layer 13 is 90 °.

In this embodiment, please refer to fig. 5 and fig. 7, each of the concentric rings 141 of the second alignment layer 14 has the same orientation and is perpendicular to the orientation of the first alignment layer 13, so that the polarized light can only pass through the area where the second alignment layer 14 is located or only pass through the area where the first alignment layer 13 is located between the concentric rings 141 of the second alignment layer 14 by the orientations of the first alignment layer 13 and the second alignment layer 14, thereby achieving the diffraction effect of the fresnel lens; when a voltage is applied to the electrode layer 12, the rotation state of the liquid crystal molecules 3 in the liquid crystal lens can be changed, so that parameters such as the focal length of the liquid crystal lens can be adjusted, and polarized light can be transmitted through the entire liquid crystal lens by supplying a voltage to the electrode layer 12.

In other alternative embodiments, as shown in fig. 6, at least a portion of the concentric rings 141 of the second alignment layer 14 includes at least two annular alignment regions 1411 coinciding with centers of the concentric rings 141, an angle between an orientation of the annular alignment regions 1411 and an orientation of the first alignment layer 13 increases gradually in a direction from the center of the second alignment layer 14 to the periphery, and an angle between an orientation of each annular alignment region 1411 and an orientation of the first alignment layer 13 is 0 ° to 90 °.

For example, as shown in fig. 6, in a specific embodiment, each concentric ring 141 in the second alignment layer 14 includes four annular alignment regions 1411 therein, and the four annular alignment regions 1411 are oriented at 0 °, 30 °, 60 °, and 90 ° angles to the orientation of the first alignment layer 13 in a direction pointing from the center of the second alignment layer 14 to the periphery, respectively. Of course, the number of the annular alignment regions 1411 included in each concentric ring 141 and the angle between the orientation of each annular alignment region 1411 and the orientation of the first alignment layer 13 can also be designed according to the specific use requirement of the liquid crystal lens.

It should be noted that each annular alignment zone 1411 included in the concentric ring 141 of the second alignment layer 14 shown in fig. 6 can be regarded as a zone of the fresnel lens, and the width of each annular alignment zone 1411 also conforms to the zone width of the corresponding position of the fresnel lens.

In the fresnel liquid crystal lens provided in this embodiment, at least a portion of the concentric rings 141 in the second alignment layer 14 is divided into a plurality of ring alignment regions 1411, and an included angle between the orientation of each ring alignment region 1411 and the orientation of the first alignment layer 13 is controlled, so that the first alignment layer 13 and the second alignment layer 14 can better transition the alignment of liquid crystal molecules, and a better optical effect is achieved.

Based on the same inventive concept, embodiments of the present application further provide a display device, where the display device includes the liquid crystal lens in the above embodiments, and the display device has the beneficial effects of the liquid crystal lens in the above embodiments, and details are not repeated herein.

Specifically, the display device may be a three-dimensional display, a wearable display device, a VR (Virtual Reality) display device, and a camera for a mobile phone imaging system, an unmanned aerial vehicle, and the like.

Based on the same inventive concept, an embodiment of the present application further provides a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal lens, as shown in fig. 8, the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal lens provided in the embodiment includes:

s1: providing substrates and forming a liquid crystal cell, as shown in fig. 10, the liquid crystal cell comprises two oppositely arranged substrates 11, a sealant 3 adhered between the two substrates 11, and a self-alignment liquid crystal material sealed between the two substrates 11 by the sealant 3, wherein the self-alignment liquid crystal material comprises liquid crystal molecules 2 and a polymerizable monomer RM.

S2: before or after forming the liquid crystal cell, first alignment layers are formed on the sides of the two substrates close to each other, respectively, and the first alignment layers formed on the two substrates are aligned in the same direction.

In a particular embodiment, as shown in fig. 9, before forming the liquid crystal cell, a layer of alignment material is formed on one side of the substrate 11 and is subjected to light irradiation or directional rubbing to form the first alignment layer 13. Specifically, the material of the first alignment layer 13 may be a photo-alignment material, or may be a rewritable alignment material, for example, a layer of photo-alignment polyimide may be formed on the substrate 11, and the layer of photo-alignment polyimide may be processed by light irradiation to form the first alignment layer 13; alternatively, a layer of erasable polyimide may be formed on the substrate 11 and rubbing the layer of erasable polyimide directionally to form the first alignment layer 13.

In another specific embodiment, as shown in fig. 10, after the liquid crystal cell is formed, the liquid crystal cell is irradiated with ultraviolet light at a third power to perform a polymerization reaction on the polymerizable monomers RM, so as to form the first alignment layers 13 on the sides of the two substrates 11 close to each other, respectively, and the polarization direction of the ultraviolet light at the third power is perpendicular to the orientation of the first alignment layers 13.

It should be noted that the polymerizable monomer RM may be a polymerizable monomer containing an acryloxy group or a polymerizable monomer containing a methacryloxy group, and when the self-aligned liquid crystal is irradiated by light with specific parameters, the polymerizable monomer in the self-aligned liquid crystal undergoes a polymerization reaction to form a film capable of interacting with the liquid crystal molecules 2, so that the liquid crystal molecules 2 are orderly arranged in a set direction.

S3: locally irradiating the liquid crystal cell with ultraviolet light at a first power to cause polymerization of the irradiated portions of the self-aligned liquid crystal material to form second alignment layers on the sides of the two first alignment layers, respectively, as shown in fig. 11 and 3, the second alignment layer 14 includes a plurality of concentric rings 141, centers of the plurality of concentric rings 141 are located on a main optical axis of the liquid crystal lens, the adjacent concentric rings 141 are in contact with each other to cause the liquid crystal molecules 2 located in a region between the adjacent concentric rings to contact the first alignment layer 13, and the two second alignment layers 14 are aligned and have different orientations from the first alignment layer 13.

As shown in fig. 11, the liquid crystal cell is locally irradiated with ultraviolet light UV1 with a first power, so that polymerizable monomers RM in the self-aligned liquid crystal material in the region irradiated with the ultraviolet light UV1 undergo polymerization to form patterned second alignment layers 14, and the second alignment layers 14 are aligned differently from the first alignment layers 13.

The polymerizable monomer RM in the self-alignment liquid crystal material in the non-irradiated area is not polymerized so that the liquid crystal molecules 2 in the non-irradiated area are aligned in accordance with the alignment of the first alignment layer 13. .

Specifically, as shown in fig. 11, the liquid crystal cell after the combination is placed in an ultraviolet illumination device, and a machine of the ultraviolet illumination device is utilized to heat the liquid crystal cell to 5 ℃ to 30 ℃ above a clearing point of the liquid crystal, for example, the machine is heated for 20s to 2min to heat the substrate 1 to 100 ℃ to 120 ℃; the ultraviolet illumination device irradiates the liquid crystal box with high-intensity polarized ultraviolet light for local irradiation, for example, 365nm polarized ultraviolet light irradiates the liquid crystal box with local irradiation for 20 s-200 s under the power of 30-300 mw, so as to form the patterned second alignment layer 14.

In the method for manufacturing the liquid crystal lens provided by this embodiment, after the first alignment layer 13 is formed on each substrate 11, the patterned second alignment layer 14 is formed on the first alignment layer 13 by using the self-aligned liquid crystal as a raw material through illumination, so that the patterned second alignment layers 14 in the two substrates 1 can be completely overlapped, a liquid crystal disorder area in the liquid crystal lens is avoided, and the diffraction effect of the liquid crystal lens is improved.

As shown in fig. 12, the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal lens provided in this embodiment includes steps S1 to S3 in the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal lens, and further includes:

s4: after the patterned second alignment layer 14 is formed, the liquid crystal cell is irradiated with ultraviolet light over its entire surface at a second power, which is less than the first power, to consume the remaining polymerizable monomer RM.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 13, the liquid crystal cell is irradiated with non-polarized ultraviolet light of a lower intensity for a total area, for example, the liquid crystal cell is irradiated with a power of 3-15 mw for 5-60 min, so that the residual polymerizable monomer RM can be consumed effectively. According to verification, the liquid crystal box is irradiated for 5min to 60min with the power of 3 to 15mw, and the residue of the polymerizable monomer RM is less than 0.2 percent.

The method for manufacturing the liquid crystal lens provided by the embodiment has the beneficial effects of the method for manufacturing the liquid crystal lens in the embodiment, the ultraviolet light UV2 with the second power is adopted to perform overall irradiation on the liquid crystal box, the residual polymerizable monomer RM can be consumed, and the reliability of the liquid crystal lens is improved.

Specifically, referring to fig. 4 and fig. 3, the patterned second alignment layer 14 includes a plurality of concentric rings, the centers of the concentric rings are located on the main optical axis of the fresnel lens, and the angle between the orientation of the second alignment layer 14 and the orientation of the first alignment layer 13 is 90 °. Step S3 in the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal lens provided in this embodiment includes:

and controlling the polarization direction of ultraviolet light with first power for irradiating the liquid crystal box by using the mask plate 4 to form a patterned second alignment layer 14, wherein the polarization direction of the ultraviolet light is vertical to the orientation of the second alignment layer 14.

Specifically, the polymerizable monomer RM irradiated with the ultraviolet polarized light can be polymerized into the second alignment layer 14 oriented perpendicular to the polarization direction of the ultraviolet polarized light, and therefore, it is necessary to control the polarization direction of the ultraviolet light so that the orientation of the second alignment layer 14 produced by polymerization is perpendicular to the orientation of the first alignment layer.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 14, the mask plate 4 is a metal wire grid polarizer, the metal wire grid polarizer includes a plurality of light shielding regions 41 arranged in concentric circles and a light transmission region 42 located between the light shielding regions 41, and the metal wire grid polarizer can transmit polarized light parallel to the polarization direction of the metal wire grid polarizer.

As shown in fig. 14, when designing the metal wire grid polarizer, the design should be made according to the specific parameters of the liquid crystal lens to be formed, wherein the radius of each concentric circle constituting the annular light shielding region 41 of the metal wire grid polarizer

Wherein r is_jThe radius of the jth concentric circle arranged in the direction from the center to the periphery is defined, wherein the value range of j is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and j can be selected as the maximum value according to the specific design of the liquid crystal lens; f is the focal length of the liquid crystal lens; λ is the central wavelength of the polarized light.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 14, if the radius R of the liquid crystal lens to be formed is 20mm, the focal length f is 20mm, and the liquid crystal lens is suitable for a liquid crystal lens with a center wavelength λ of 560nm, the formula is shown

Can calculate r₁＝105.83μm，r₂＝149.67μm，r₃＝183.3μm，r₄211.66 μm, the two light-shielding regions 41 closest to the center each have a width d in the direction from the center to the periphery₁＝r₂-r₁＝43.84μm，d₂＝r₄-r₃＝28.36μm。

As can be seen from the above calculation, the width of each light-shielding region 41 can be calculated in sequence according to the above formula, and a corresponding metal wire grid polarizer can be designed according to the width of each light-shielding region 41.

Specifically, referring to fig. 4 and fig. 6, the liquid crystal lens is a fresnel lens, at least a portion of the concentric rings 141 of the patterned second alignment layer 14 includes at least two annular alignment regions 1411 coinciding with centers of the concentric rings 141, in a direction from the center of the second alignment layer 14 to the periphery, an included angle between an orientation of the annular alignment regions 1411 and an orientation of the first alignment layer 13 is gradually increased, and an included angle between an orientation of each annular alignment region 1411 and an orientation of the first alignment layer 13 is 0 ° to 90 °. Step S3 in the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal lens provided in this embodiment includes:

controlling ultraviolet light with first power to irradiate the liquid crystal box in a first polarization direction by using a first mask plate so as to form a first annular alignment region in a concentric ring 141 in a patterned second alignment layer, wherein the first polarization direction is vertical to the orientation of the first annular alignment region;

the ultraviolet light with the first power is controlled by the second mask plate to irradiate the liquid crystal cell in the second polarization direction to form a second annular alignment region in the concentric ring 141 in the patterned second alignment layer 14, and the second polarization direction is perpendicular to the orientation of the second annular alignment region.

It should be noted that the number of the annular alignment regions formed by each concentric ring in the second alignment layer 14 is the number of times of irradiation of the ultraviolet light UV1 with the first power, and in this process, only the polarization direction of the ultraviolet light needs to be adjusted and the corresponding mask needs to be replaced. Referring to fig. 4, the present embodiment further provides a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal lens, where the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal lens further includes: before the first alignment layer 13 is formed, an electrode layer 12 is formed on the substrate 11 on a side close to the first alignment layer 13.

It should be noted that the electrode layers 12 in the two substrates 1 in the liquid crystal lens may be the same, that is, the transparent conductive layer is covered on the substrate on the whole surface, when driving, by giving different voltages to the electrode layers 12 in the two substrates 1, an electric field may be formed between the two substrates 1 to drive at least part of the liquid crystal molecules 2 to rotate, so that polarized light can pass through the whole surface of the liquid crystal lens.

Of course, the electrode layers 12 in the two substrates 1 in the liquid crystal lens may also be different, that is, the electrode layer in one substrate 1 is a transparent conductive layer whose entire surface is covered on the substrate, and the electrode layer in the other substrate 1 may be subjected to patterning processing, so as to better control the electric field in the local area in the liquid crystal lens, thereby better controlling the rotation of the liquid crystal molecules 2 in each area, and further obtaining better light efficiency.

By applying the embodiment of the application, at least the following beneficial effects can be realized:

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the various operations, methods, steps in the processes, acts, or solutions discussed in this application can be interchanged, modified, combined, or eliminated. Further, other steps, measures, or schemes in various operations, methods, or flows that have been discussed in this application can be alternated, altered, rearranged, broken down, combined, or deleted. Further, steps, measures, schemes in the prior art having various operations, methods, procedures disclosed in the present application may also be alternated, modified, rearranged, decomposed, combined, or deleted.

In the description of the present application, it is to be understood that the terms "center", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", and the like indicate orientations or positional relationships based on those shown in the drawings, and are only for convenience in describing the present application and simplifying the description, but do not indicate or imply that the referred device or element must have a particular orientation, be constructed in a particular orientation, and be operated, and thus should not be construed as limiting the present application.

The terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of the present application, "a plurality" means two or more unless otherwise specified.

In the description of the present application, it is to be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, e.g., as meaning either a fixed connection, a removable connection, or an integral connection; they may be connected directly or indirectly through intervening media, or they may be interconnected between two elements. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood in a specific case by those of ordinary skill in the art.

In the description herein, particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples.

It should be understood that, although the steps in the flowcharts of the figures are shown in order as indicated by the arrows, the steps are not necessarily performed in order as indicated by the arrows. The steps are not performed in the exact order shown and may be performed in other orders unless explicitly stated herein. Moreover, at least a portion of the steps in the flow chart of the figure may include multiple sub-steps or multiple stages, which are not necessarily performed at the same time, but may be performed at different times, which are not necessarily performed in sequence, but may be performed alternately or alternately with other steps or at least a portion of the sub-steps or stages of other steps.

The foregoing is only a partial embodiment of the present application, and it should be noted that, for those skilled in the art, several modifications and decorations can be made without departing from the principle of the present application, and these modifications and decorations should also be regarded as the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. The liquid crystal lens is characterized by comprising two oppositely arranged substrates, a sealant adhered between the two substrates and liquid crystal molecules sealed between the two substrates by the sealant;

the base plates comprise substrates, a first alignment layer and a second alignment layer, the first alignment layer is located on one side, close to the other base plate, of each substrate, the second alignment layer is located on one side, far away from the substrates, of the first alignment layer, the second alignment layer comprises a plurality of concentric rings, the circle centers of the concentric rings are located on the main optical axis of the liquid crystal lens, the adjacent concentric rings are separated from each other, so that liquid crystal molecules located in the area between the adjacent concentric rings are in contact with the first alignment layer, the material of the second alignment layer is polymerized from a self-oriented liquid crystal material, and the self-oriented liquid crystal material comprises the liquid crystal molecules and polymerizable monomers;

the first alignment layers of the two substrates are aligned in the same direction, the second alignment layers are aligned in a direction different from that of the first alignment layers, and orthographic projections of the second alignment layers of the two substrates on a plane parallel to the substrate are overlapped with each other.

2. The liquid crystal lens of claim 1, wherein the angle between the orientation of each of the concentric rings in the second alignment layer and the orientation of the first alignment layer is 90 °.

3. The liquid crystal lens of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the concentric rings in the second alignment layer comprises at least two annular alignment regions coinciding with centers of the concentric rings, and an angle between an orientation of the annular alignment regions and an orientation of the first alignment layer increases gradually in a direction from the center of the second alignment layer to the periphery, and an angle between an orientation of each annular alignment region and an orientation of the first alignment layer is 0 ° to 90 °.

4. The liquid crystal lens according to any one of claims 1 to 3,

the base plate further comprises an electrode layer located between the substrate and the first alignment layer.

5. A display device comprising the liquid crystal lens according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

6. A method for manufacturing a liquid crystal lens is characterized by comprising the following steps:

providing substrates and forming a liquid crystal box, wherein the liquid crystal box comprises two oppositely arranged substrates, a sealant adhered between the two substrates and a self-orientation liquid crystal material sealed between the two substrate base plates by the sealant, and the self-orientation liquid crystal material comprises liquid crystal molecules and polymerizable monomers;

before or after the liquid crystal box is formed, respectively forming first alignment layers on the sides, close to each other, of the two substrates, wherein the first alignment layers formed on the two substrates are in the same orientation;

7. The method for manufacturing a liquid crystal lens according to claim 6, further comprising: and after the second alignment layer is formed, fully irradiating the liquid crystal box by adopting ultraviolet light under second power to consume the residual polymerizable monomer, wherein the second power is less than the first power.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein before or after forming the liquid crystal cell, forming a first alignment layer on a side of the two substrates adjacent to each other comprises:

before the liquid crystal box is formed, forming a layer of alignment material on one side of the substrate, and carrying out illumination or directional friction on the alignment material to form the first alignment layer; or

And after the liquid crystal box is formed, ultraviolet light is adopted to carry out overall irradiation on the liquid crystal box with third power so as to enable the polymerizable monomers to carry out polymerization reaction and form the first alignment layers on the sides, close to each other, of the two substrates respectively, and the polarization direction of the ultraviolet light with the third power is vertical to the orientation of the first alignment layers.

9. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein an angle between the orientation of the second alignment layer and the orientation of the first alignment layer is 90 °;

locally irradiating the liquid crystal cell with ultraviolet light at a first power, comprising:

and controlling the polarization direction of the ultraviolet light with the first power irradiating the liquid crystal box by using a mask plate to form the second alignment layer, wherein the polarization direction of the ultraviolet light is vertical to the orientation of the second alignment layer.

10. The method for manufacturing the liquid crystal lens according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein each of the concentric rings in the second alignment layer comprises at least two annular alignment regions coinciding with centers of the concentric rings, an angle between an orientation of the annular alignment regions and an orientation of the first alignment layer is gradually increased in a direction from the center of the second alignment layer to the periphery, and an angle between an orientation of each of the annular alignment regions and an orientation of the first alignment layer is 0 ° to 90 °;

controlling ultraviolet light with first power to irradiate the liquid crystal box in a first polarization direction by using a first mask plate so as to form a first annular alignment region in a concentric ring in the second alignment layer, wherein the first polarization direction is vertical to the orientation of the first annular alignment region;

and controlling the ultraviolet light with the first power to irradiate the liquid crystal box in a second polarization direction by using a second mask plate so as to form a second annular alignment region in the concentric rings in the second alignment layer, wherein the second polarization direction is vertical to the orientation of the second annular alignment region.

11. The method for manufacturing a liquid crystal lens according to any one of claims 6 to 8, further comprising:

before the first alignment layer is formed, an electrode layer is formed on one side of the substrate close to the first alignment layer.