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.

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.

Provided is a polarizer having a high degree of alignment and an image display device including the polarizer. The polarizer is formed of a polarizer-forming composition containing a polymer liquid crystal compound and a dichroic material, in which the polymer liquid crystal compound is a thermotropic liquid crystal and a crystalline polymer, the polymer liquid crystal compound and the dichroic material are horizontally aligned, and crystallinity of the polymer liquid crystal compound in the polarizer-forming composition is higher than the crystallinity of the polymer liquid crystal compound alone.

A liquid crystal composition contains a side chain type polymer liquid crystalline compound which can form a light absorption anisotropic film having a high alignment degree and has excellent solubility in a general-purpose solvent, a light absorption anisotropic film obtained using the composition, a laminate, and an image display device. The composition includes: a side chain type polymer liquid crystalline compound; and a dichroic substance, in which the compound is a copolymer having a repeating unit (1) containing a mesogenic group with a molecular weight of greater than 280 and a repeating unit (2) with a molecular weight of 280 or less, a content of the repeating unit (2) is less than 14% by mass with respect to a total mass of the compound, and a content of the dichroic substance is greater than 2% by mass with respect to a total solid content of the composition.

A liquid crystal composition contains a side chain type polymer liquid crystalline compound which can form a light absorption anisotropic film having a high alignment degree and has excellent solubility in a general-purpose solvent, a light absorption anisotropic film obtained using the composition, a laminate, and an image display device. The composition includes: a side chain type polymer liquid crystalline compound; and a dichroic substance, in which the compound is a copolymer having a repeating unit (1) containing a mesogenic group with a molecular weight of greater than 280 and a repeating unit (2) with a molecular weight of 280 or less, a content of the repeating unit (2) is less than 14% by mass with respect to a total mass of the compound, and a content of the dichroic substance is greater than 2% by mass with respect to a total solid content of the composition.

Provided is a circularly polarizing plate and a display device that includes the circularly polarizing plate. The circularly polarizing plate can be applied to a display device such as an organic light emitting display device to minimize blocking of light in the visible light region affecting image quality while blocking harmful ultraviolet rays appropriately and also has excellent durability.

Provided is a circularly polarizing plate and a display device that includes the circularly polarizing plate. The circularly polarizing plate can be applied to a display device such as an organic light emitting display device to minimize blocking of light in the visible light region affecting image quality while blocking harmful ultraviolet rays appropriately and also has excellent durability.

An object of the present invention is to provide a polymerizable liquid crystal compound having excellent solubility, which is used for the formation of an optically anisotropic film having excellent durability, a method for producing the same, a polymerizable liquid crystal composition, an optically anisotropic film, an optical film, a polarizing plate, and an image display device. The polymerizable liquid crystal compound of the embodiment of the present invention is a polymerizable liquid crystal compound represented by Formula (1), L.sup.1-SP.sup.1-A.sup.1-D.sup.3-G.sup.1-D.sup.1-Ar-D.sup.2-G.sup.2-D.sup.4-A.sup.2-SP.sup.2-L.sup.2 . . . (1) in Formula (1), the ClogP value of the group represented by L.sup.1-SP.sup.1-A.sup.1-D.sup.3-G.sup.1-D.sup.1 and the ClogP value of the group represented by L.sup.2-SP.sup.2-A.sup.2-D.sup.4-G.sup.2-D.sup.2 are different from each other, and at least one of the ClogP values is 3.3 or more.

The present invention is a liquid crystal display device including a liquid crystal layer containing a liquid crystal material, a sealing member surrounding the liquid crystal layer in a plan view, a pair of substrates sandwiching the liquid crystal layer, and an alignment control layer being in contact with the liquid crystal layer in a region surrounded by the sealing member in a plan view. The alignment control layer aligns a liquid crystal compound in the liquid crystal material in a direction horizontal to faces of the substrates, and contains a polymer formed by polymerization of at least one monomer, and the at least one monomer contains a monomer represented by the following Chemical formula (1): ##STR00001##
wherein at least one hydrogen atom of the phenylene group may be the same or different and may be substituted with a halogen atom, a methyl group, an ethyl group, or a propyl group.

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.