There is provided the use of an aligned nematic elastomer to form a material having auxetic properties wherein the aligned nematic material has a mechanical Fréedericksz transition. Also provided is a method of producing an aligned nematic elastomer for said use.

Provided is an organic electroluminescent display device having excellent thermal durability including, in order from a visual recognition side, at least a circularly polarizing plate, and an organic electroluminescent display element having a pair of electrodes and an organic light emitting layer sandwiched therebetween, in which the circularly polarizing plate has a polarizer and an optically anisotropic layer, the polarizer having a thickness of 10 μm or less and containing a polyvinyl alcohol-based resin, or having a dichroic organic coloring agent, the optically anisotropic layer being formed of a composition containing a polymerizable liquid crystal compound exhibiting reverse wavelength dispersibility, a silicon nitride layer being included between the circularly polarizing plate and the organic electroluminescent display element, and the circularly polarizing plate being disposed between two substrates having a moisture permeability of 1 g/m2.Math.day or less, and one of the low moisture permeability substrates is the silicon nitride layer.

Polyfluorinated additives for use as components in liquid-crystal mixtures. Liquid-crystal mixtures which comprise these compounds. And liquid-crystal displays based on these liquid-crystal mixtures.

Provided is a method for producing an optically anisotropic layer, with a polarizer, which has a plurality of regions in which alignment states of a liquid crystal compound are fixed and different from one another; laminate, with a polarizer; and a composition. The method includes: 1) forming a composition layer containing a chiral agent containing at least a photosensitive chiral agent and a polymerizable liquid crystal compound on a substrate, 2) subjecting the composition layer to a heat treatment, 3) subjecting the composition layer to light irradiation under oxygen concentration of 1% by volume or more, after step 2), and 4) subjecting the composition layer to a curing treatment to form an optically anisotropic layer, and 5) carrying out step 3) under heating conditions, or subjecting the composition layer to a heat treatment between step 3) and step 4), with a predetermined amount of chiral agent.

Provided is an optical film with a resin substrate adhered to an optically anisotropic layer and suppression of occurrence of optical defects in the optically anisotropic layer. The optical film has a resin substrate having an alignment regulating force and an optically anisotropic layer arranged thereon, in which the optically anisotropic layer contains a liquid crystal compound and a compound having a heteroatom different from the liquid crystal compound, and in a case where a surface of the optical film on an optically anisotropic layer side thereof is a first surface and a surface of the optical film on a resin substrate side thereof is a second surface, and components of the optical film in a depth direction are analyzed by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry while irradiating the optical film with an ion beam from the first surface toward the second surface, the obtained profile satisfies a predetermined requirement.

Provided is an image recording method including a step of preparing at least two ink compositions including a first ink composition that contains a polymerizable liquid crystal compound, a chiral compound, a polymerization initiator, and an organic solvent and a second ink composition that contains a polymerizable liquid crystal compound, a chiral compound, a polymerization initiator, and an organic solvent, a step of applying the first ink composition onto a substrate by an inkjet recording method, a step of forming a first ink film by irradiating the first ink composition applied onto the substrate with an active energy ray, a step of applying the second ink composition onto the first ink film by an inkjet recording method, and a step of forming a second ink film by irradiating the second ink composition applied onto the first ink film with an active energy ray, in which the first ink film has a hexadecane-contacting angle of 45° or less.

A liquid-crystal (LC) medium comprising polymerizable compounds, its use for optical, electro-optical and electronic purposes, in particular in LC displays, especially in LC displays of the PSA (polymer sustained alignment) or SA (self-aligning) mode, an LC display of the PSA or SA mode comprising the LC medium, and a process of manufacturing the LC display.

To provide a liquid crystal display device that has a high off-response speed and a good balance between drive voltage and transmittance, is stable over time, and also has a high voltage holding ratio. A liquid crystal display device in which a liquid crystal layer containing a polymer network (A) and a liquid crystal composition (B) is disposed between two substrates having an electrode on at least one side thereof and having transparent properties on at least one side thereof, and the loss factor (tan δ) (loss modulus/storage modulus) of the liquid crystal layer calculated from the storage modulus (Pa) and the loss modulus (Pa) in a sinusoidal vibration measured with a rheometer at 25° C. and at a measurement frequency of 1 Hz ranges from 0.1 to 1.

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.

Polymerizable compounds, to processes and intermediates for the preparation thereof, liquid-crystal (LC) media comprising them, and the use of the polymerizable 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 type, or a stabilizers in LC media and LC displays.