Decorative material and method of its fabrication
View Patent ↗A decorative material is disclosed which comprises two polarizers and at least one phase-shifting plate placed between the polarizers. Each polarizer has a controlled direction of polarization axis. The phase-shifting plate represents a continuous layer of an optically anisotropic material containing regions differing by optical properties.
1. A decorative material, comprising:
two polarizers, wherein each polarizer has a controlled direction of polarization axis; and
at least one phase-shifting plate placed between the polarizers, wherein the phase-shifting plate represents a continuous layer of an optically anisotropic material containing regions differing by optical properties.
2. The decorative material of claim 1 , wherein the optically anisotropic material represents a molecularly oriented film deposited onto an optically isotropic base.
3. A decorative material, comprising:
two polarizers, wherein each polarizer has a controlled direction of polarization axis, and at least one of the polarizers contains several elements differing by directions of their polarization axes; and
at least one phase-shifting plate placed between the polarizers, wherein the phase-shifting plate represents a continuous layer of a homogeneous optical anisotropic material.
4. The decorative material of claim 1 or 3 , wherein the anisotropic film is placed in a transparent vessel filled with a transparent or weakly colored liquid medium, and the polarizers are placed in the inner surface of the vessel.
5. The decorative material of claim 1 or 3 , wherein the anisotropic film is placed in a transparent vessel filled with a transparent or weakly colored liquid medium, and the polarizers are placed in the outer surface of the vessel.
6. The decorative material of claim 3 , wherein at least one of the polarizers represents a film of molecularly oriented organic substance deposited immediately onto an optically anisotropic material.
7. The decorative material of claim 3 , wherein at least one of the polarizers represents a film of molecularly oriented organic substance deposited onto a transparent sublayer predeposited onto a surface of an anisotropic material.
8. The decorative material of claim 6 or 7 , wherein the molecularly oriented film represents a layer of an organic substance formed from lyotropic liquid crystals.
9. The decorative material of claim 6 or 7 , wherein the molecularly oriented film represents a layer of an organic substance formed from thermotropic liquid crystals having a temperature of transition from solid to liquid crystal state above the ambient temperature.
10. The decorative material of claim 1 , wherein the continuous layer of the optically anisotropic material contains regions differing by value of phase shift.
11. The decorative material of claim 1 , wherein the continuous layer of the optically anisotropic material contains regions differing by direction of optical axis.
12. The decorative material of claim 1 , wherein the continuous layer of the optically anisotropic material contains regions differing by value of phase shift and direction of optical axis.
13. A decorative material, comprising:
a polarizer having a controlled direction of polarization axis;
a reflecting layer; and
at least one phase-shifting plate placed between the polarizer and the reflecting layer, wherein the phase-shifting plate represents a continuous layer of an optically anisotropic material containing regions differing by optical properties.
14. The decorative material of claim 13 , wherein the continuous layer of the optically anisotropic material contains regions differing by value of phase shift.
15. The decorative material of claim 13 , wherein the continuous layer of the optically anisotropic material contains regions differing by direction of optical axis.
16. The decorative material of claim 13 , wherein the continuous layer of the optically anisotropic material contains regions differing by value of phase shift and direction of optical axis.