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With the advancement of information display technologies, research on liquid crystals is undergoing a tremendous shift to photonic devices. For example, devices and configurations based on liquid crystal materials are being developed for various applications, such as spectroscopy, imaging, and fiber optics. One of the problems behind the development of photonic devices lies in the preparation of patterned surfaces that can provide high resolution. Among all liquid crystal alignment techniques, photoalignment represents a promising non-contact method for the fabrication of patterned surfaces. In this review, we discuss the original research findings on electro-optic effects, which were mainly achieved at the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the collaborating research laboratories.