A polymer blend is provided of a fluoropolymer and a liquid crystal polymer. The blend is achieved using a compatibilizer composition that contains a copolymer having a fluorine-containing monomer and a liquid crystal monomer.

The present invention relates to polymerisable compounds, to processes and intermediates for the preparation thereof, to liquid-crystal (LC) media comprising them, and to the use of the polymerisable compounds and LC media for optical, electro-optical and electronic purposes, in particular in LC displays, especially in LC displays of the polymer sustained alignment (PS, PSA) and self-aligning (SA) type.

A liquid crystal device having higher transmittance and lower driving voltage is provided. The liquid crystal device comprises a first substrate having a first conductive layer, a second substrate having a second conductive layer, a first alignment layer and a liquid crystal layer. The first alignment layer comprises a liquid crystal alignment treatment agent and a methacryloyloxy-containing silane and is disposed on the first conductive layer of the first substrate. The liquid crystal layer comprises a liquid crystal material and a bifunctional-group resin and is disposed on the first alignment layer. The second substrate having a second conductive layer is disposed on the liquid crystal layer.

Provided are a liquid crystal device, a composition capable of forming a liquid crystal layer, a method of manufacturing the liquid crystal device, a system for manufacturing the liquid crystal device, and a use of the liquid crystal device. The liquid crystal device is a device capable of exhibiting, for example, a normally white or black mode, which may exhibit a high contrast ratio and be driven with a low driving voltage, and exhibit excellent durability such as thermal stability. Such a liquid crystal device may be applied to various optical modulators such as a smart window, a window protective film, a flexible display device, an active retarder for displaying 3D images, or a viewing angle control film.

An object of the present invention is to provide an optical film having excellent alignment, and a polarizing plate and an image display device using the same. The optical film of the present invention is an optical film having at least an optically anisotropic layer, and the optically anisotropic layer contains a smectic liquid crystal compound not including a fluorine atom and a compound partially having a cyclohexane ring in which the hydrogen atom is substituted with a linear alkyl group.

A photo-alignment polymer has a repeating unit represented by Formula (1), in Formula (1), R.sup.1 represents a hydrogen atom or a substituent, X represents —O—, —S—, or —NR.sup.2—, in which R.sup.2 represents a hydrogen atom or a substituent, L.sup.1 represents a single bond or a divalent linking group, P represents a photo-aligned group, and A represents an acid-cleavage group which is decomposed by an action of acid to produce a polar group

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Provided are a light controlling apparatus and a method of fabricating the same. The light controlling apparatus comprises: a first electrode unit and a second electrode unit facing each other; a liquid crystal unit between the first electrode unit and the second electrode unit, the liquid crystal unit including: a liquid crystal; a network having a first polymer polymerized from a first monomer having a similar shape as the liquid crystal and a second polymer polymerized from a second monomer having a shape different from the first monomer; and a wall having the first polymer and the second polymer.

The present invention relates to liquid-crystalline media comprising—one or more compounds of formulae CC and/or CP and—one or more compounds selected from the group of compounds of formulae (I), (II) and (III), in which the parameters have the meaning indicated in Claim 1, and to components comprising these media for high-frequency technology, in particular phase shifters and microwave array antennas.

##STR00001##

A liquid crystal device and a method of forming a liquid crystal device are disclosed. The device comprises a layer of liquid crystal material bounded by a first cell wall and a second cell wall, the first cell wall being provided with a first electrode structure and the second cell wall being provided with a second electrode structure. The first cell wall and the second cell wall are separated by a distance d.sub.c, wherein the layer of liquid crystal material is associated with a plurality of defect generation sites. Defects are generated by the defect generation sites, increasing switching speed and decreasing the time it takes to switch large area displays employing such devices.

The invention relates to a liquid-crystalline medium and to the use thereof for an active-matrix display, in particular based on the VA, PSA, PS-VA, PM-VA, SS-VA, PALC, IPS, PS-IPS, FFS or PS-FFS effect.