Cholesteric liquid crystal displays (Ch-LCDs) have potential as screens in portable readers. In the present study, it is demonstrated that a Ch-LCD can be driven by a thermal process at a temperature of 90 degrees C. At a suitable temperature, the texture of the cholesteric liquid crystal will be transfrred from planar to focal conic. The experimental results show that the reflectance of a Ch-LCD is influenced by texture after the thermal process. After thermal treatment at 90 degrees C, the periodicity was reduced from 63 nm to 55 nm. A chain tilting angle of similar to 29 degrees was estimated. Crown Copyright (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.