An alignment film and a fabrication method thereof, a liquid crystal panel and a display device, relate to a field of liquid crystal display technology, which can avoid causing static electricity and generating dust during a rubbing process, as well as unevenness of alignment. The method comprises: dispersing discotic liquid crystal molecules containing hydrophobic branched chains in a solvent, to prepare a discotic liquid crystal molecule solution (101); and applying the discotic liquid crystal molecule solution on a substrate, and obtaining the alignment film after removing the solvent (102).

The present invention relates to a photoalignment composition comprising a) 0.001 to 20%, by weight, preferably, 1 to 10% by weight, more preferably 1 to 9% by weight of at least one photoreactive compound (I) that comprises a photoalignment group and b) 80 to 99.999% by weight, preferably, 90 to 99% by weight, more preferably 91 to 99% by weight of at least one compound (II) that does not comprise a photoalignment group, and c) optionally at least one reactive or non reactive additives, and d) optionally at least one solvent. Further the present invention relates to the use of this photoalignment composition for the alignment of liquid crystals or liquid crystal polymers, in electrooptical and optical elements, systems and devices.

There is provided an optical film including a (meth)acrylic resin having a cyclic structure in its main chain as a main component, a compound represented by Formula (1) below, and a rubber elastic body: ##STR00001##
where each of R.sup.1 to R.sup.8 independently represents a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, a hydroxyl group or a hydrocarbon group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, X represents a divalent alicyclic group having 4 to 20 carbon atoms, and the alicyclic group represented by X may have at least one substituent selected from a halogen atom, an aliphatic hydrocarbon group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms and an aromatic hydrocarbon group having 6 to 15 carbon atoms.

There is provided an optical film comprising a (meth)acrylic resin as a main component, a compound represented by the specific formula, and a rubber elastic body, and a method of manufacturing an optical film through a solution film-forming method, in which the optical film is composed of a (meth)acrylic resin as a main component, and contains a compound represented by the specific formula and a rubber elastic body, and a polarizing plate protective film having the optical film, and a polarizing plate having the polarizing plate protective film, and a liquid crystal display device provided with the polarizing plate.

A curved liquid crystal display includes: a first substrate; a second substrate facing the first substrate; a liquid crystal layer between the first substrate and the second substrate and including liquid crystal molecules; a first alignment layer between the first substrate and the liquid crystal layer; and a second alignment layer between the second substrate and the liquid crystal layer. The first alignment layer and the second alignment layer respectively include a polymer having at least one main chain and a plurality of side chains connected to the main chain, and at least one of the polymer of the first alignment layer and the polymer of the second alignment layer includes at least one side chain including at least one of a photo-reactor and a photo-reactor derivative.

A thin optical film with high hygrothermal durability and high front contrast, includes cellulose acylate whose degree of substitution of acyl group is from 2.0 to 2.6 and at least one optical performance developer, wherein the cellulose acylate has a mannose content of 0.2% by mass or less, and the optical film has a thickness of 40 m or thinner and satisfies:
M.sub.AM.sub.B1.1Formula I
C.sub.AC.sub.B1.1Formula II
wherein, A denotes the depthwise region ranging from one surface up to 2 m depth of the optical film, and B denotes the depthwise region ranging from the other surface up to 2 m depth, and M.sub.A and M.sub.B represent the mannose content in regions A and B; C.sub.A and C.sub.B represent the content of the optical performance developer in regions A and B; and M.sub.A, M.sub.B, C.sub.A and C.sub.B are given in % by mass.

An alignment film, a method for preparing the same, a liquid crystal display device including the alignment film. The alignment film is an oriented polyimide film. The method for preparing the alignment film includes: adding a bridging diphenyl diamine to N-methylpyrrolidinone, followed by the addition of 1,4,5,8-naphthalenetetracarboxylic dianhydride to allow the reaction to occur, and filtering the reaction mixture to give a liquid polyamide acid; dissolving the liquid polyamide acid into N-methylpyrrolidinone to give a solution, which is coated onto the surface of a substrate and subjected to a heat treatment, to produce a polyimide film; and orienting the polyimide film via an orientation process to form an alignment film, wherein, polyimide has a structure represented by Formula-4: ##STR00001## wherein, R is a strong electron withdrawing group, each of R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 is independently methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, methoxy, ethoxy, propoxy, or isopropoxy, The polyimide film has good optical transmittance.

Provided are: a polymer for alignment films, which enables the production of a liquid crystal display device that is suppressed in image burn-in even if the light irradiation time is reduced; and a liquid crystal display device which is suppressed in image burn-in even if the light irradiation time is reduced. A polymer for alignment films, which has a main chain and a side chain that contains a structure represented by chemical formula OC(C.sub.6H.sub.5)(COC.sub.6H.sub.5)O; and a liquid crystal display device which comprises a pair of substrates and a liquid crystal layer that is held between the pair of substrates, and wherein at least one of the substrates has an alignment film, on which a polymer layer for controlling the alignment of liquid crystal molecules is formed, and the alignment film is formed using a polymer for alignment films, which has a main chain and a side chain that contains a structure represented by chemical formula OC(C.sub.6H.sub.5)(COC.sub.6H.sub.5)O.

A display panel including a first substrate, a pixel array disposed on the first substrate, a first alignment layer covering the pixel array, a second substrate disposed opposite the first substrate, a second alignment layer disposed on the second substrate and a display medium disposed between the first alignment layer and the second alignment layer is provided. The first alignment layer has first alignment particles. A number of the first alignment particles each having an area ranged from 250 nm.sup.2 to 1000 nm.sup.2 occupies 40% or less of a total number of the first alignment particles in a unit area. The second alignment layer has second alignment particles. A number of the second alignment particles each having the area ranged from 250 nm.sup.2 to 1000 nm.sup.2 occupies 40% or less of a total number of the second particles in the unit area.

A liquid crystal display including a first substrate; a second substrate facing the first substrate; an alignment layer disposed on at least one of the first substrate and the second substrate; a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate and including a reactive mesogen; and bumps disposed adjacent to a surface of the alignment layer, wherein the alignment layer comprises a main chain and a plurality of side chains connected to the main chain, and the side chains comprise a polymerization inhibiting agent group.