Disclosed herein is a light emitting device and method of manufacturing such a device comprised of a series of photopolymerizable, chiral liquid crystalline layers that can be solvent cast on a substrate. The mixture of chiral materials in each successive layer may be blended in such a way that each layer has the same chiral pitch. Further the chiral materials in each layer may also be blended so that the ordinary and extraordinary refractive indices in each layer match the other layers such that the complete assembly of layers will optically function as a single relatively thick layer of chiral liquid crystal. The chiral nematic material in each layer can spontaneously adopt a helical structure with a helical pitch. The light emitting layers of the light emitting device can further comprise electroluminescent material that emits light into the band edge light propagation modes of the photonic crystal.

Regarding an optical element that includes an optically-anisotropic layer having a liquid crystal alignment pattern where a direction of an optical axis derived from a liquid crystal compound changes while continuously rotating in at least one in-plane direction, an object of the present invention is to provide a liquid crystal composition with which an optical element having an excellent diffraction efficiency can be prepared, and an optical element and a light guide element. The liquid crystal composition according to the present invention includes a rod-like liquid crystal compound and a disk-like liquid crystal compound, and a ratio between a twist elastic constant K22 and a splay elastic constant K11 of the liquid crystal composition satisfies 0.7K22/K11.

An object of the present invention is to provide an optical film which is excellent in the adhesiveness between a polymer support and a photo alignment film and in which a liquid crystal compound having reverse wavelength dispersibility is uniformly aligned. Another object of the present invention is to provide a polarizing plate formed of the optical film, and an image display device formed of the optical film or the polarizing plate.

An optical film according to an embodiment of the present invention is obtained by laminating, in the following order: a polymer support containing an additive; a photo alignment film; and an optically anisotropic film, the optically anisotropic film is formed of a polymerizable liquid crystal composition containing a polymerizable liquid crystal compound having reverse wavelength dispersibility, and an amount of a component derived from the additive of the polymer support, which is contained in a boundary region with the optically anisotropic film in the photo alignment film is 0.10 to 0.50 mass % with respect to a total mass of the photo alignment film.

Provided is a laminate, which has a polarizer and an optically anisotropic layer and is excellent in thermal durability, and an organic electroluminescent device and a liquid crystal display device, which include the laminate. The laminate has two substrates and a polarizing plate disposed between the two substrates, in which the polarizing plate has a polarizer and an optically anisotropic layer, the polarizer contains a polyvinyl alcohol-based resin, the optically anisotropic layer is formed of a composition containing a polymerizable liquid crystal compound represented by General Formula (I): L.sub.1-G.sub.1-D.sub.1-Ar-D.sub.2-G.sub.2-L.sub.2, a moisture permeability of the substrate is 10.sup.3 g/m.sup.2.Math.day or less, and a water content of the polarizing plate is 3.0 g/m.sup.2 or less.

A polymerizable liquid crystal composition having excellent solubility, used for formation of an optically anisotropic film having excellent durability. The polymerizable liquid crystal composition contains a polymerizable liquid crystal compound P1 represented by Formula (1): A-Ar-A , a polymerizable liquid crystal compound P2 represented by Formula (2): A-Ar-B , and a polymerizable liquid crystal compound P3 represented by Formula (3): BAr-B .

In Formulae (1) and (2), A's represent predetermined side chains, all of which exhibit the same C log P value, and in Formulae (2) and (3), B's represent predetermined side chains, all of which exhibit the same C log P value. It should be noted that A and B represent side chains having C log P values different from each other, in which the C log P value of A is larger than the C log P value of B and the C log P value of at least one of A or B is 3.3 or more.

Provided is an optical film having an excellent film contrast and improved moisture-heat resistance, a polarizing plate, and an image display device. The optical film has an optically anisotropic film obtained by polymerizing a polymerizable liquid crystal composition, and a photo-alignment film, in which the polymerizable liquid crystal composition contains a polymerizable liquid crystal compound represented by Formula (1): L.sup.1-SP.sup.1-E.sup.1-Cy.sup.2-Cy.sup.1-D.sup.1-Ar.sup.1-D.sup.2-Cy.sup.3-Cy.sup.4-E.sup.2-SP.sup.2-L.sup.2 and the optically anisotropic film satisfies Formula (I): Re(450)/Re(550)<1 or Formula (II): Rth(450)/Rth(550)<1 and exhibits a diffraction peak derived from a periodic structure in X-ray diffraction measurement.

An object of the present invention is to provide an optically anisotropic film which has excellent moisture-heat resistance and can have a reduction in the thickness, an optical film, a polarizing plate, and an image display device. The optically anisotropic film of the embodiment of the present invention is an optically anisotropic film obtained by polymerizing a polymerizable liquid crystal composition, in which the polymerizable liquid crystal composition contains a polymerizable liquid crystal compound represented by Formula (1) and a polymerizable liquid crystal compound represented by Formula (2), and the optically anisotropic film satisfies Formula (3) or (4), and has a degree of alignment as measured by Raman spectroscopy of 0.4 or more.

L.sup.1-SP.sup.1-(E.sup.3-A.sup.1).sub.m-E.sup.1-G.sup.1-D.sup.1-Ar.sup.1-D.sup.2-G.sup.2-E.sup.2-(A.sup.2-E.sup.4).sub.n-SP.sup.2-L.sup.2(1)

L.sup.1-SP.sup.1-(E.sup.3-A.sup.1).sub.m-E.sup.1-G.sup.1-D.sup.1-Ar.sup.2-D.sup.2-G.sup.2-E.sup.2-(A.sup.2-E.sup.4).sub.n-SP.sup.2-L.sup.2(2)

Re(450)/Re(550)<1(3)

Rth(450)/Rth(550)<1(4)

Provided is a polymerizable liquid crystal composition used for formation of an optically anisotropic film having excellent durability, an optically anisotropic film, an optical film, a polarizing plate, and an image display device. The polymerizable liquid crystal composition contains a polymerizable liquid crystal compound represented by Formula (1) and an acidic compound, in which a pKa of the acidic compound is more than 10 and 5 or less, and a content of the acidic compound is 20 parts by mass or less with respect to 100 parts by mass of the polymerizable liquid crystal compound.

##STR00001##

A polymerizable liquid crystal compound represented by formula (1). In formula (1), A.sup.1 is 1,4-phenylene, 1,4-cyclohexylene, 1,4-cyclohexenylene, pyridine-2,5-diyl, 1,3-dioxane-2,5-diyl or naphthalene-2,6-diyl, Z.sup.1 is a connecting group, m and n are independently an integer from 0 to 5, in which an expression: 1m+n8 holds, X.sup.1 is alkylene having 1 to 5 carbons, in which an atom thereof may be replaced by a hetero atom, and at least one of R.sup.1 is a polymerizable functional group. ##STR00001##

A laminate film comprising a retardation layer exhibiting blocking characteristics against specific ultraviolet rays even in a state where the retardation layer does not include any ultraviolet absorber or light stabilizer. The laminate film which can be used alone or in combination with an appropriate sunscreen or a light stabilizer as needed to selectively block ultraviolet rays in a region requiring blocking, without affecting display performance, such as color senses and image quality, of a display device. The laminate film can also be formed with a lower thickness without requiring a separate ultraviolet blocking layer, and also has excellent durability, because the laminate film exhibits a certain ultraviolet blocking property even in the absence of an ultraviolet absorber or light stabilizer.