Polarization-independent guest-host liquid crystal smart windows via surface-protrusion-induced multi-domain vertical alignment

Conventional guest-host liquid crystal (GHLC) devices face critical tradeoffs: cholesteric liquid crystal modes cause haze and require high voltages, while homogeneous alignment modes are severely polarization-dependent. Herein, we propose a polarization-independent GHLC smart window driven by a protrusion-induced multi-domain vertical alignment (MVA) mode. Introducing periodic surface protrusions into a vertical alignment cell induces multi-domain azimuthal orientations under an applied electric field. This chiral-dopant-free multi-domain mode macroscopically averages the dye absorption axes, achieving complete optical isotropy and polarization independence, along with haze-free analog switching and a low driving voltage (∼8 V).