Reducing LCD substrate thickness from 0.7 mm to 0.5 mm improves edge-light mura from glass thermal-stress birefringence by 26%. Sub nanometer (nm) resolution retardation measurements were performed on 1. 1, 0.7, 0.5, 0.4, 0.3, and 0.1 mm thick substrates of width 482 mm and a height of 305 mm with an LCD edge-light and are in good agreement with the stress optic law.

The modulational instability of perturbed plane-wave solutions of the cubic nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation is examined in the presence of three forms of dissipation. We present three families of decreasing-in-magnitude plane-wave solutions to this dissipative NLS equation. We establish that all such solutions that have no spatial dependence are linearly stable, though some perturbations may grow a finite amount. Further, we establish that all such solutions that have spatial dependence are linearly unstable if a certain form of dissipation is present.

Implications of cell gap variations on LCD performance, particularly Mura, are discussed. A model combining light transmission through LCD and its perception is presented, including an application. Such a model can be used as a guide to define glass surface flatness performance needs to enable high quality displays.