The present invention relates to an optical code including a film of a charge-transfer material, as well as methods thereof. Described herein are optical codes having anisotropic and/or isotropic regions within the film, which can be provided in a pattern that serves as an optical code.

To suppress a phenomenon where an optical axis of the optically anisotropic layer is tilted when the optically anisotropic layer is produced by using a liquid crystalline compound showing smectic phase as a materials showing a higher level of orderliness. An optically anisotropic layer wherein a polymerizable composition, containing one or more polymerizable rod-like liquid crystal compound showing a smectic phase, is fixed in a state of smectic phase, and a direction of maximum refractive index of the optically anisotropic layer is inclined at 10 or smaller to the surface of the optically anisotropic layer, a method for manufacturing the same, a laminate and a method for manufacturing the same, a polarizing plate, a liquid crystal display device, and an organic EL display device.

The invention relates to a compound of formula I,

##STR00001##

wherein R.sup.11, R.sup.21, A.sup.11, A, Z, X.sup.11, X.sup.21, Y.sup.11, Y.sup.12, Sp.sup.11, Sp.sup.21, o and p have one of the meanings as given in claim 1. The invention further relates to method of production of a compound of formula I, to the use of said compounds in LC media and to LC media comprising one or more compounds of formula I. Further, the invention relates to a method of production of such LC media, to the use of such media in LC devices, and to LC device comprising a LC medium according to the present invention. The present invention further relates to a process for the fabrication such liquid crystal display and to the use of the liquid crystal mixtures according to the invention for the fabrication of such liquid crystal display.

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display (LCD) of the polymer stabilized ultra fast (PS-UF) twisted nematic (TN) mode, to an LCD obtained by this method and to an LC medium used therein.

The present invention provides a liquid crystal display device that includes a first substrate having an electrode A formed thereon; a second substrate having an electrode B formed thereon and being disposed to oppose the first substrate; and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate and substantially vertically aligned with respect to the first and second substrates when no voltage is applied between electrodes, in which the electrode A has a fishbone pattern having a branched portion, and a space (S m) between adjacent branches of branches of the fishbone pattern and an inter-substrate distance (d m) between the first substrate and the second substrate satisfy a relationship of formula (1):

(d0.6)/1.25<S<(d+1.1)/1.25formula (1)

A liquid crystal polymer film, and a composite film of liquid crystal polymer and polyimide and a manufacturing method thereof are provided. The liquid crystal polymer film includes 63 wt % to 74 wt % of p-hydroxybenzoic acid, 21 wt % to 26 wt % of 6-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid, and 5 wt % to 11 wt % of p-hydroxycinnamic acid. The composite film is manufactured by thermocompressing a single layer or multi layers of liquid crystal polymer film and polyimide film so that the composite film can have high flatness and the surface roughness Sa of the composite film is ranging from 0.1 m to 10 m. In the production process of the composite film, the composite film is rolled up and attached to a copper foil to form a high frequency substrate with good processability. After peeling the polyimide film, the liquid crystal polymer film can be thermocompressed to form a four-layered, six-layered, eight-layered or eight-layered high frequency substrate.

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 ) (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.

Thermotropic ionic liquid crystal molecules, comprising a so-called rigid part, a so-called flexible part bonded covalently, directly or via a spacer, to said rigid part, and one or more ionic groups bonded covalently to said rigid part. Said molecules can be used as electrolytes in an electrochemical device, in particular a lithium-ion battery.

The present invention provides a liquid crystal display device which includes a reflective electrode, which achieves its low-voltage driving, and which suppresses flickering caused during its driving and image sticking caused by its long-term driving. The liquid crystal display device of the present invention includes: a first substrate provided with a reflective electrode configured to reflect ambient light; a second substrate facing the first substrate; a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the first substrate and the second substrate and containing a liquid crystal material that contains a liquid crystal compound containing an alkoxy group and has negative anisotropy of dielectric constant; an alignment film provided on at least one of the first substrate and the second substrate on a side facing the liquid crystal layer; and an aromatic polymer that is present between the liquid crystal layer and the alignment film and/or within the alignment film and has a specific structure.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide: elements, in particular, a display element and an optical element, which are obtained by controlling orientation of liquid crystals in a liquid crystal bulk without using a liquid crystal orientation film; and/or a photoreactive liquid crystal composition for manufacturing the elements. The present invention provides: a photoreactive liquid crystal composition comprising (A) a photoreactive polymer liquid crystal which includes a photoreactive side chain in which at least one type of reaction selected from the group consisting of (A-1) photocrosslinking and (A-2) photoisomerization occurs, and (B) a low molecular weight liquid crystal; and an optical element or display element which is formed having a liquid crystal cell including the composition.