Reflective liquid crystal display

1. A reflective liquid crystal display comprising:

a linear polarizer for converting natural light into linearly polarized light;

a retardation film for converting the linearly polarized light into circularly polarized light;

a liquid crystal layer for receiving the circularly polarized light and varying the phase of the circularly polarized light depending on the presence of an applied electric field;

a cholesteric liquid crystal color filter for receiving the circularly polarized light from the liquid crystal layer, and selectively reflecting the circularly polarized light received from the liquid crystal layer; and

a black background for absorbing a portion of light passing through the color filter.

2. The reflective liquid crystal display of claim 1 , wherein the retardation film is a λ/4 plate.

3. The reflective liquid crystal display of claim 1 , wherein the black background is located beneath the color filter.

4. The reflective liquid crystal display of claim 1 , wherein the retardation film is located between the linear polarizer and the color filter.

5. The reflective liquid crystal display of claim 1 , wherein the black background is made of a polymeric material.

6. The reflective liquid crystal display of claim 1 , wherein a bandwidth of the color filter can be controlled by adjusting a pitch of the cholesteric liquid crystal color filter.

7. A reflective liquid crystal display comprising:

first and second substrates opposite to and spaced apart from each other;

a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first and the second substrates, the liquid crystal layer having a first switching mode in which a phase of light is changed while passing through it, and a second switching mode in which the phase of light is not changed while passing through it;

first and second electrodes for applying an electric field to the liquid crystal layer;

a semiconductor element located on the second substrate for switching an electric signal applied to the liquid crystal layer;

a retardation film located on the first substrate for converting linearly polarized light into circularly polarized light;

a linear polarizer located on the retardation film, for converting natural light into the linearly polarized light;

a cholesteric liquid crystal color filter located on the second substrate for selectively reflecting light having at least one color received from the liquid crystal layer; and

a black background located beneath the second substrate for absorbing light passing through the cholesteric liquid crystal color filter.

8. The reflective liquid crystal display of claim 7 , wherein the retardation film is a λ/4 plate.

9. The reflective liquid crystal display of claim 7 , wherein the black background is made of a polymeric material.

10. The reflective liquid crystal display of claim 7 , wherein a bandwidth of the color filter can be controlled by adjusting a pitch of the cholesteric liquid crystal color filter.