Transient state liquid crystal image bar with contrast enhancement

A transient state liquid crystal image bar (12) having enhanced contrast with lower required driving voltage. The image bar is of the type having a nematic liquid crystal cell configured as a single array of dot shutters energizable by a single frequency voltage with crossed polarizer (14) and analyzer (15). The polarizing axis of the polarizer is at 45 degrees with the liquid crystal molecules (13) in their rest state. Thus, when all the image bar shutters are energized, it is in the non-transmission condition. For bursts of light to pass, the voltage to selected dot shutters is interrupted and reapplied. In one embodiment, the improvement is achieved by an optical compensator (28) or thin prism placed between the polarizer and the liquid crystal cell. In another embodiment, a quarter-wave plate is placed between the liquid crystal cell and the analyzer, with the analyzer being rotated about the image bar's optical axis a predetermined angle from its initial crossed position with respect to the polarizer, so that there is increased extinction of the light exiting from the liquid crystal cell, when the liquid crystal material is in its normally stable energized state.