The present invention provides a liquid crystal display layer including an upper substrate layer, a lower substrate layer, and a transparent electrode disposed inside the upper substrate layer and the lower substrate layer, respectively. An alignment film is attached to each of the transparent electrodes, and a liquid crystal medium composition is distributed between the alignment films. At least two polymerizable monomers are mixed in the liquid crystal medium composition, each of the polymerizable monomers includes at least two ring structures or fused ring structures, and two reactive functional groups are directly or indirectly connected to the ring structures. The present invention further provides a manufacturing method of a liquid crystal medium composition.

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.

The invention relates to a light modulation element comprising a polymer stabilized cholesteric liquid crystalline medium sandwiched between two substrates (1), provided with a common electrode structure (2) and a driving electrode structure (3) individually, wherein the substrate with driving and/or common electrode structure is additionally provided with an alignment electrode structure (4) which is separated from the driving and or common electrode structure on the same substrate by an dielectric layer (5), characterized in that the light modulation element comprises at least one alignment layer (6) directly adjacent to the liquid crystalline medium.

The invention is further relates to a method of production of said light modulation element and to the use of said light modulation element in various types of optical and electro-optical devices, such as electro-optical displays, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), non-linear optic (NLO) devices, and optical information storage devices.

To provide a liquid crystal display device, whereby transparency when no voltage is applied and scattering properties when a voltage is applied, are good, adhesion between a liquid crystal layer and a vertical liquid crystal alignment film is high, and its lifespan is long even in a severe environment. The liquid crystal display device has a liquid crystal layer formed by disposing a liquid crystal composition containing a liquid crystal and a polymerizable compound between a pair of substrates provided with electrodes, and irradiating and curing the composition with ultraviolet rays by an ultraviolet irradiation apparatus, and at least one of the substrates is provided with a liquid crystal alignment film to vertically align a liquid crystal, wherein the ultraviolet irradiation apparatus is an ultraviolet irradiation apparatus capable of controlling the irradiation light intensity and wavelength of the ultraviolet rays to be irradiated and the surface temperature of the pair of the substrates, the liquid crystal composition contains a compound represented by the formula [1], and the liquid crystal alignment film is a liquid crystal alignment film obtained from a liquid crystal alignment treating agent containing a polymer having a side chain structure represented by the formula [2-1] or formula [2-2].

X.sup.1-X.sup.2-X.sup.3-X.sup.4-X.sup.5-X.sup.6X.sup.7.sub.pX.sup.8  [1]

(X.sup.1 is a specific side chain structure; X.sup.2, X.sup.3, X.sup.4 and X.sup.6 are each a single bond, etc.; X.sup.5 and X.sup.7 are each a benzene ring, etc.; p is an integer of from 0 to 4; and X.sup.8 is a C.sub.1-18 alkyl group, etc.),

—Y.sup.1-Y.sup.2-Y.sup.3-Y.sup.4Y.sup.5.sub.nY.sup.6  [2-1]

(Y.sup.1, Y.sup.2 and Y.sup.3 are each a single bond; Y.sup.4 and Y.sup.5 are each a benzene ring, etc.; n is from 0 to 4; and Y.sup.6 is a C.sub.1-18 alkyl group, etc.,

—Y.sup.7-Y.sup.8  [2-2]

(Y.sup.7 is a single bond; and Y.sup.8 is a C.sub.8-22 alkyl group, etc.).

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.

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

##STR00001##

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.

Shown is a liquid crystal composition satisfying at least one of characteristics such as a high maximum temperature, a low minimum temperature, a small viscosity, a suitable optical anisotropy and a large dielectric anisotropy, or has a suitable balance regarding at least two of the characteristics, and an AM device including the composition. The liquid crystal composition contains a specific compound having large negative dielectric anisotropy as a first component, and a specific compound having small viscosity as a second component, and may contain a specific compound having negative dielectric anisotropy as a third component, a specific compound having a high maximum temperature or small viscosity as a fourth component or a specific compound having a polymerizable group as an additive component.

The instant invention relates to liquid crystalline media comprising a chiral component, component A, consisting of one or more chiral compounds, optionally, a bimesogenic component, component B, consisting of one or more bimesogenic compounds, a liquid crystalline component, component C, consisting of one or more liquid crystalline, respectively mesogenic compounds, and a reactive mesogenic component, component D, comprising, one or more reactive mesogenic compounds,
as defined in claim 1, to their stabilization by polymerization and to the polymer-stabilised liquid crystal materials, as well as to liquid crystal displays comprising these liquid crystal media, respectively these stabilized materials, especially to USH-displays and in particular to active matrix displays and, last not least, to the processes of preparation of the respective composite systems and of the displays comprising these systems.

Shown is a liquid crystal composition satisfying at least one of characteristics such as a high maximum temperature, a low minimum temperature, a large elastic constant, a suitable optical anisotropy and a large negative dielectric anisotropy, or has a suitable balance regarding at least two of the characteristics, and an AM device including the composition. The liquid crystal composition may contain a specific compound having a high maximum temperature, a low minimum temperature, a large elastic constant and a large negative dielectric anisotropy as a first component, a specific compound having a high maximum temperature or a small viscosity as a second component, a specific compound having negative dielectric anisotropy as a third component, or a specific compound having a polymerizable group as an additive component.