There is provided a composition including a first polymer compound having a photoreactive functional group, a second polymer compound, and an ultraviolet absorber having a benzotriazole skeleton, wherein a content of the ultraviolet absorber is less than 20 parts by mass per 100 parts by mass of a total of the first polymer compound and the second polymer compound.

A polar compound has a high chemical stability, high ability to align liquid crystal molecules and high solubility in a liquid crystal composition, and causes no decrease of liquid crystallinity of the liquid crystal composition, a liquid crystal composition contains the compound, and a liquid crystal display device includes the composition. The compound is represented by formula (1), the composition contains the compound, and the liquid crystal display device uses the composition. ##STR00001## In formula (1), R.sup.1 is alkyl having 3 to 15 carbons, alkenyl having 4 to 15 carbons or the like; a is an integer from 2 to 12; and R.sup.2 is a group represented by formula (1a), formula (1b) or formula (1c). ##STR00002## In the formulas, S.sup.1 and S.sup.2 are independently a single bond, alkylene having 1 to 10 carbons; S.sup.3 is >CH— or >N—; S.sup.4 is >C< or >Si<; and X.sup.1 is —OH, —NH.sub.2 or the like.

Three-dimensional structures of stably associated mesogenic ligand-functionalized nanoparticles are provided. Compositions that include these structures, as well as methods of making the structures are also provided. The structures, compositions and methods find use in a variety of applications, such as light emitting devices (e.g., video displays, lights, etc.), inks, photonics and encapsulation technologies.

The present invention provides a polymerizable liquid crystal composition including a specific polymerizable compound and a fluorosurfactant having specific polyoxyalkylene skeleton and molecular weight. Also, an optically anisotropic body, a phase difference film, an antireflection film, and a liquid crystal display device, which are produced by using the polymerizable liquid crystal composition according to the present invention, are provided. The present invention is useful because three properties, that is, leveling properties of the surface of an optically anisotropic body, offset to a base material, and alignment properties of a liquid crystal can be improved at the same time in the case where the optically anisotropic body is produced by photopolymerizing the polymerizable liquid crystal composition.

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.).

An object of the present invention is to provide an optical film having excellent alignment, and a polarizing plate and an image display device using the same. The optical film of the present invention is an optical film having at least an optically anisotropic layer, and the optically anisotropic layer contains a smectic liquid crystal compound not including a fluorine atom and a compound partially having a cyclohexane ring in which the hydrogen atom is substituted with a linear alkyl group.

The present invention relates to polymer stabilized nematic liquid crystal microlenses. The microlenses can be made from a nematic liquid crystal, a chiral dopant, a reactive monomer, and a photoinitiator. The microlenses can be prepared by spin coating a liquid crystal mixture onto an array including a nickel transmission electron microscope grid. The focal length of the microlens array can be tuned electrically.

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.

The present invention relates to benzotriazole derivatives selected from the group of compounds of formulae Ia, Ib and Ic as defined in claim 1, to mesogenic media comprising the compounds of formulae Ia, Ib and Ic, and to the use of these compounds and mesogenic media in optical, electronic and electro-optical applications, in particular in devices for regulating the passage of energy from an outside space into an inside space, for example in windows.

The present application relates to a liquid crystal composition, a polarizing element and a use of the polarizing element. Since the polarizing element may be prepared by a simple coating process, the guest host type liquid crystal composition of the present application allows not only for reducing the manufacturing cost and lightweight thinning of the polarizing element, but also for manufacturing the polarizing element showing an excellent heat resistant stability without changes of absorption spectrum to transmission spectrum even in a severe condition such as high temperature environment. Such a polarizing element can be applied to various display devices such as liquid crystal display devices, EL display devices, field emission display devices, display devices using electronic papers, projection display devices or piezoelectric ceramic display devices.