Provided is an optical laminate used for a viewing angle control system, and an image display device, including a light absorption anisotropic layer formed of a liquid crystal composition containing a liquid crystal compound and a dichroic substance, a first adjacent layer in contact with one surface of the light absorption anisotropic layer, and a second adjacent layer in contact with a surface of the light absorption anisotropic layer opposite to the one surface, in which a content of the dichroic substance is 7.0% by mass or greater, an angle s between a transmittance central axis of the light absorption anisotropic layer and a surface of the light absorption anisotropic layer in a normal direction is in a range of 5 to 60, and both refractive indices n1 and n2 of the first and second adjacent layers, respectively, are in a range of 1.46 to 1.72.

Provided is a composition which is to be a raw material of a polarizing film having excellent light fastness. The composition includes a polymerizable liquid crystal compound and a compound represented by the following formula (1): ##STR00001##
wherein E represents an electron attractive group having at least 3 carbon atoms or the following group: ##STR00002##
wherein R represents a hydrogen atom or a hydrocarbon group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms;
Ar represents a group selected from the following groups: ##STR00003##
and A represents a group selected from the following groups: ##STR00004##
wherein R.sup.2, R.sup.3 and R.sup.4, and l, m, n, p, and q are defined in the specification.

The present invention provides an optical laminate which is suppressed in film thickness unevenness of an optically anisotropic layer and is free from point defects, a method of producing the same, and a polarizing plate and an organic EL display device using the optical laminate. The method of producing an optical laminate having an optically anisotropic layer A and an optically anisotropic layer B, includes where the layer A and the layer B are provided in direct contact with each other. The method further includes where both a composition a for forming the layer A and a composition b for forming the layer B contain a fluorine compound, and when the layer A is formed using composition a and layer B is formed using composition b, layer A and layer B are formed in this order under the condition that composition a and composition b satisfy predetermined surface tension relationships.

An anisotropic scattering film includes a liquid crystal material. The anisotropic scattering film includes a plurality of uniaxial horizontal alignment regions of the liquid crystal material and a plurality of vertical alignment regions of the liquid crystal material.

Provided is a polarizer-forming composition from which a polarizer with a high degree of alignment and excellent heat resistance can be formed, a polarizer, and an image display device. The polarizer-forming composition includes a liquid crystal compound, and a dichroic material, in which the liquid crystal compound is a polymer liquid crystal compound, and a content of a component having a number average molecular weight of 1000 or less which is contained in the polymer liquid crystal compound is in a range of 0.10% to 5.0% by mass.

A compound serving as a dichroic pigment which has a maximum absorption wavelength in a range of 350 nm to 510 nm is represented by the following Formula (1):

##STR00001##

In Formula (1), R.sup.1 represents a hydrogen atom or a C1-C20 alkyl group; R.sup.2 through R.sup.4 are substituents which are not hydrogen atoms and each independently represent a C1-C4 alkyl group; m, p, and q are each independently an integer of 0 to 2; and R.sup.5 is (i) a C1-C10 alkyl group in which a hydrogen atom is substituted by at least one hydroxy group or (ii) a C1-C10 alkyl group which has carbon atoms and in which at least one O is inserted between the carbon atoms.

A liquid crystal device and the use thereof are provided. The liquid crystal device has an advantage in terms of power consumption since a normally transparent mode may be realized in a state in which an external electric field is not applied, and can exhibit an excellent light blocking characteristic when an external electric field is applied.

Provided are a polymerizable composition in which precipitation or the like of crystals does not occur and which has high storage stability; and a polymerizable composition in which unevenness is unlikely to occur when a film-like polymerized material obtained by polymerizing the composition is prepared. Further, provided are an optically anisotropic body, a retardation film, an optical compensation film, an anti-reflective film, a lens, and a lens sheet which are formed of the polymerizable composition, a liquid crystal display element, an organic light-emitting display element, a lighting element, an optical component, a colorant, a security marking, a member for emitting a laser, a polarizing film, a coloring material, and a printed matter for which the polymerizable composition is used.

The present invention relates to liquid-crystalline media (LC media) having negative or positive dielectric anisotropy, comprising a low-molecular-weight component and a polymerizable component. The polymerizable component comprises self-aligning, polymerizable mesogens (polymerizable self-alignment additives) which effect homeotropic (vertical) alignment of the LC media at a surface or the cell walls of a liquid-crystal display (LC display). The invention therefore also encompasses LC displays having homeotropic alignment of the LC medium without alignment layers. The invention discloses novel structures for self-alignment additives which have a certain position of the functional groups.

The problem that the present invention is to solve is to provide an optical film that has less alignment defects and is less liable to cause variation in the optical characteristics when placed in a high temperature state. The present invention provides an optical film containing a structural unit derived from a specific compound, that is, an optical film containing a structural unit derived from a compound represented by the general formula (I), which has less alignment defects and is less liable to cause variation in the optical characteristics when placed in a high temperature state, and also provides a display device including the optical film.