A retardation plate is formed by laminating at least two retardation plates of a retardation plate 1 and a retardation plate 2, in which at least one of the retardation plate 1 and the retardation plate 2 is formed of a polymer of a polymerizable liquid crystal composition. It is possible to provide a retardation plate imparting a phase difference of wavelength over a wide wavelength region, a circularly polarizing plate having excellent anti-reflection performance over a wide wavelength region, and a display element or a light-emitting element having excellent visibility.

A polymerizable liquid crystal composition is presented which can form a polymer that allows formation of a uniform homeotropic alignment even without forming an alignment film on the supporting substrate and has excellent chemical strengths such as heat resistance and solvent resistance. The polymerizable liquid crystal composition includes at least one type of polyfunctional polymerizable liquid crystal compound and a cardo-type fluorene monomer, wherein based on a total amount of the polyfunctional polymerizable liquid crystal compound, a content of a monofunctional polymerizable liquid compound is less than 5.0% by weight.

The invention relates to a polymerisable LC material comprising at least one di- or multireactive mesogenic compound of formula T,
R.sup.T1-(A.sup.T1Z.sup.T1).sub.m1-G.sup.T1-(Z.sup.T2-A.sup.T2).sub.m2-R.sup.T2T
and at least one compound of formula CO-1, ##STR00001##
wherein the parameter are R.sup.T1, A.sup.T1, Z.sup.T1, m1, G.sup.T1, Z.sup.T2, A.sup.T2, m2, R.sup.T2, L.sup.1 to L.sup.3, R.sup.1 and R.sup.2, and n are defined as given in claim 1. Furthermore, the present invention relates also to a method for its preparation, a polymer film with improved thermal durability obtainable from the corresponding polymerisable LC material, to a method of preparation of such polymer film, and to the use of such polymer film and said polymerisable LC material for optical, electro-optical, decorative or security devices.

The present invention has an object to provide a polymerizable liquid crystal compound used for formation of an optically anisotropic film having excellent reciprocal wavelength dispersion and moisture-heat resistance, 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 present invention is a polymerizable liquid crystal compound represented by Formula (1), in which a Clog P value of a group represented by Ar in Formula (1) is 4.3 or more and less than 7.0. ##STR00001##

A polarizing plate and a display device including the same. The polarizing plate includes a retardation layer exhibiting ultraviolet blocking characteristics even in a state where the retardation layer does not include any ultraviolet absorber or light stabilizer. The polarizing plate 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 polarizing plate can also be formed with a small thickness without requiring a separate ultraviolet blocking layer, and also has excellent durability, because the polarizing plate exhibits a certain ultraviolet blocking property even in the absence of an ultraviolet absorber or light stabilizer.

A liquid crystal composition includes at least one of a monofunctional compound represented by Formula (1) defined herein and a monofunctional compound represented by Formula (2) defined herein, and at least one of a difunctional compound represented by Formula (3) defined herein and a multifunctional compound represented by Formula (4) defined herein.

A liquid crystal composition contains a liquid crystal compound; a photo-alignment compound; and a polymer obtained by polymerizing a monomer having two or more radically polymerizable double bonds and one or more hydroxyl groups.

A laminate including a horizontally oriented liquid crystal cured film that is a cured material of a polymerizable liquid crystal composition containing at least one type of polymerizable liquid crystal compound, and a vertically oriented liquid crystal cured film is provided. The horizontally oriented liquid crystal cured film is the cured material of the polymerizable liquid crystal composition in which the polymerizable liquid crystal compound is cured in a state of being horizontally oriented with respect to a plane of the liquid crystal cured film, and satisfies the following formulae: nxA(450)>nyA(450)>nzA(450) and ReA(450)/ReA(550)<1.00.

The present invention provides an optical film having a liquid crystal layer having excellent durability, and a liquid crystal film. The optical film of the present invention has an organic base material and a liquid crystal layer disposed on the organic base material, the liquid crystal layer contains a photo-alignment compound, and in the liquid crystal layer, the photo-alignment compound is unevenly distributed on a side of the organic base material.

The present invention provides a display panel in which deterioration of color tone may be suppressed regardless of the reflectance of the display element. A display panel including a display element (A), a retardation layer (B) positioned upon the light emission surface side of the display element, and a polarizer (C) positioned upon the light emission surface side of the retardation layer, in which the retardation layer (B) has a ?/4 retardation layer (B1), and the in-plane retardation of the ?/4 retardation layer (B1) satisfies the following Condition 1: <Condition 1> The spectral reflectance of the display element is measured by an SCI method, the average reflectance at wavelengths over the range of 400 nm or more and less than 550 nm is obtained as R.sub.1, the average reflectance at wavelengths over the range of 550 nm or more and less than 700 nm is obtained as R.sub.2, and when the value of R.sub.1/R.sub.2 is calculated and obtained as x, the in-plane retardation of the ?/4 retardation layer falls within the range of ?4.6002x+119.24 nm or more and ?4.6002x+129.24 nm or less.