JPH02245734A - Charge holding medium having electrooptical material layer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the charge holding medium which can read electrostatic patterns with the high accuracy of a molecular level by constituting the medium in such a manner that the medium is exposed while a voltage is held impressed between the conductive layer of a photosensitive body and the conductive layer formed on a 2nd transparent base. CONSTITUTION:This charge holding medium has the 1st transparent base 103b which is disposed to face the photosensitive body 101 formed with the conductive layer and photoconductive layer 101c on the transparent base 101a and is formed with an insulating layer 103a on the surface on the photosensitive body 101 side and the 2nd transparent base 103g which is disposed to face the 1st transparent base via an electrooptical material layer and is formed with the conductive layer on the surface on the electrooptical material layer side. The charge holding medium is so constituted that the medium is exposed while the voltage is held impressed between the conductive layer of the photosensitive body 101 and the conductive layer formed on the 2nd transparent base 103g. The optical properties of the electrooptical material layer are changed by the voltage impression and exposing opposite to the photosensitive body. The change in the optical properties is read by transmitted or reflected light. The charge holding medium which can make reading with the high accuracy of the molecular level is obtd. in this way.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a charge-retaining medium in which an electro-optical element such as a liquid crystal or an electro-optic crystal is incorporated into the charge-retaining medium so that an electrostatic pattern can be read electro-optically. It is something.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, silver halide photography, electrophotography, television photography, and photography using solid-state image sensors (CCD, etc.) have been used as high-resolution photography techniques, but these techniques have high quality image recording. If the resolution was high, the processing steps would be complicated, and if the steps were simple, there would be a lack of memory function or a basic deterioration of image quality.

The applicant aims for these products to have high quality, high resolution, simple processing steps, long-term storage, and the ability to store stored characters, line drawings, images, and code (1°0) information according to the purpose. A method for forming an electrostatic latent image on a charge-retaining medium by applying voltage and exposure has already been proposed (Japanese Patent Application No. 121592/1982), which enables arbitrary and repeated recording and reproduction with high image quality.

[The problem that the invention aims to solve]

The electrostatic pattern of the charge retention medium related to the above application is characterized by extremely high resolution, but it is extremely difficult to read it with high precision.For example, in the potential reading method, the scanning density of the reading head This makes it impossible to perform high-resolution reading.

The present invention is intended to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a charge retention medium that can electro-optically read an electrostatic pattern and read the electrostatic pattern with high precision at the molecular level.

[Means to solve the problem]

For this purpose, the charge retention medium of the present invention is placed facing a photoreceptor having a conductive layer and a photoconductive layer formed on a transparent support,
A first transparent support having an insulating layer formed on the surface facing the photoreceptor, and a first transparent support disposed opposite to the first transparent support with an electro-optic material layer interposed therebetween, and a conductive layer formed on the surface facing the electro-optic material layer. second
The second transparent support is characterized in that exposure is performed while a voltage is applied between the conductive layer of the photoreceptor and the conductive layer formed on the second transparent support.

[Effect]

The charge retention medium of the present invention incorporates an electro-optic material layer such as a liquid crystal or an electro-optic crystal in the charge retention medium, and changes the optical properties of the electro-optic material layer by applying a voltage and exposing it facing a photoreceptor. By reading this change in optical properties using transmitted light or reflected light, it becomes possible to read the electrostatic pattern with precision at the molecular level.

〔Example〕

Examples will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are diagrams for explaining the charge retention medium of the present invention. In the figure, 101 is a photoreceptor, 101a is glass, 101b is a transparent electrode, 101c is a photoconductive layer, 103 is a charge retention medium, 103a is an insulating layer, 103b is glass,
103c is an alignment layer, 103d is a liquid crystal, 103e is an alignment layer, 103f is an electrode, 103g is glass, 105.107
is a polarizing plate.

In FIG. 1, 10
A transparent electrode 101b made of IrO with a thickness of 0.00 mm is formed,
A photoconductive layer 101c having a thickness of about 10 μm is formed thereon to constitute the photoreceptor 101. For this photoreceptor 101, 1
The charge retention medium 103 is placed with a gap of about 0 μm in between. The charge holding medium 103 is formed by forming an insulating layer 103a with a thickness of 10 μm on a glass 103b with a thickness of 1 μm. glass 103
In b, a liquid crystal 103d is sandwiched between a glass 103g formed by depositing an IrO electrode 103f with a thickness of 1000, and alignment layers 103c and 103e are formed on the inner surfaces of the glass 103b and the electrode 103f. Then, a voltage is applied between the electrodes 101b and 103f by the power source E. In a dark place, since the photoconductive layer 101c is a high-resistance material, no change occurs between the electrodes. When light is incident from the photoreceptor 101 side, the photoconductive layer 101C exhibits conductivity in the portion where the light is incident, and discharge occurs between the photoconductive layer 101C and the insulating layer 103a, and charges are accumulated on the insulating layer in the form of an image.

Note that the orientation layers 103c and 103e have an orientation direction of 90°.
Therefore, the molecules of the liquid crystal are twisted by 90 degrees between the alignment layers 103c and 103e, so that, for example, light polarized perpendicular to the plane of the paper is transmitted to the glass 10.
When the light enters from the 3g side, a 90° rotation occurs in the liquid crystal, and the light is emitted from the insulating layer 103a as light polarized in a direction parallel to the plane of the paper.

Charges of opposite polarity are induced in the electrode 103e by the charges accumulated on the insulating layer 103a, and as a result, lines of electric force extend from the accumulated charges toward the electrode 103e as shown in the figure, and this electric field causes the charges to be The molecular arrangement of the liquid crystal in the part facing the accumulated position changes, and the glass 103g
Light incident from the side does not undergo a 90° rotation.

As shown in FIG. 2, polarizing plates 105 and 107 are arranged on both sides of the charge holding medium 101 so that their polarization directions are perpendicular to each other. In this state, the polarization direction is not rotated by 90° in the part where the arrangement of molecules is disturbed due to the influence of charge, so
The polarized light that has passed through the polarizing plate 107 cannot pass through the polarizing plate 105. On the other hand, in areas where no charge pattern is formed and the molecular alignment is not disturbed, the polarized light passes through the polarizing plate 105 because of a 90° rotation. Therefore, when viewed from the polarizing plate 105 side, the portions where charges are formed appear dark, and the portions through which light passes appear bright, so that the electrostatic pattern can be observed. Note that the above explanation assumes that charges are accumulated on the insulating layer, but if the liquid crystal is a ferroelectric liquid crystal, it has high-speed response and memory properties, and the presence of charges for a long period of time is not necessarily required. . However, when there is no charge, the disorder in the molecular arrangement is no longer continuous, and at electric field strengths greater than a certain level, the disorder remains almost unchanged, and at electric field strengths below a certain level, almost no disorder remains. Therefore, the observed image becomes a binary image. Therefore, in order to read the image as a photographic image, it is necessary that the charges remain on the insulating layer. In addition, the second
When reading optically by inputting light as shown in the figure,
It is desirable to provide an antireflection layer. In addition, the electrode 103
By providing a pattern in f, it is possible to perform an AND operation between the electrode pattern and the exposure pattern. Specifically, by visually observing the degree of overlap between the electrode pattern and the exposure pattern, it is possible to detect, for example, out-of-focus. It is possible to use it.

Note that although the above embodiments have mainly described the light that passes through the electro-optic material layer, reflected light may also be used, and in that case, the electrode 103f does not need to be transparent, and even one electrode may be used. good.

In addition, an electro-optic crystal whose refractive index changes depending on an electric field may be used instead of a liquid crystal. The electric pattern can be easily obtained.

The electro-optic effect includes the Pockels effect, in which the refractive index changes in proportion to the electric field, and the Kell effect, in which the refractive index changes in proportion to the square of the electric field. Materials that can be used in the present invention include KTiO-, which has a large Kel coefficient, Single crystals of BaTiO3 and LiNbO3, liquids such as nitrobenzene, and KDP with a large Pockels coefficient.

There are L　i　　　a　O3 crystal groups, etc.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, a high-resolution electrostatic pattern formed on a charge retention medium is converted into a change in the optical properties of an electro-optical element, and this change in optical properties is optically read. This makes it possible to read with high precision at the molecular level.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are diagrams for explaining the charge retention medium of the present invention. 101-...Photoreceptor, 101a...Glass, 10
1b...Transparent electrode, 101c...Photoconductive layer, 103
...Charge retention medium, 103a...Insulating layer, 103b
...Glass, 103c...Orientation layer, 103d...
Liquid crystal, 103e... Alignment layer, 103f... Electrode, 1
03g...Glass, 105.107...Polarizing plate. ◎◎ ◎ ◎θ

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) A first transparent support, which is disposed opposite to a photoreceptor having a conductive layer and a photoconductive layer formed thereon, and has an insulating layer formed on the surface facing the photoreceptor, and a first transparent support. and a second transparent support which is arranged facing each other with an electro-optic material layer in between and has a conductive layer formed on the surface facing the electro-optic material layer, and the conductive layer of the photoreceptor and the second transparent support have a conductive layer formed on the surface facing the electro-optic material layer. A charge retention medium having an electro-optic material layer that is exposed to light while a voltage is applied between the formed conductive layer. (2) The charge retention medium according to claim 1, wherein the electro-optic material layer is made of liquid crystal, and an alignment layer is provided on the first transparent support and the conductive layer surface. (3) Claim 1 in which the electro-optic material layer is made of electro-optic crystal.
Charge retention medium as described. (4) A charge retention medium having an electro-optic material layer according to claim 1, wherein a predetermined pattern is formed on the conductive layer.