Large rewritable liquid crystal pretilt angle by in situ photoalignment of brilliant yellow films

The ability to control the alignment of liquid crystals (LCs) is a challenge that is near-universal in LC research and applications. While several practical solutions exist for controlling the azimuthal (in-plane) alignment of LCs at an interface, control over the polar, or pretilt angle of the LC often requires a combination of materials or expensive and intricate processing. Here, we introduce a method for exerting control over large pretilt...