A LC lens and a liquid-crystal medium used in said LC lens, wherein the medium contains one or more compounds of each of formulae I and II ##STR00001##

A nematic liquid crystal composition having a high Δn and a high Δε in a liquid crystal material that enables greater phase control over electromagnetic waves in the microwave or millimeter wave range, and a liquid crystal element, a sensor, a liquid crystal lens, an optical communication device, and an antenna including the nematic liquid crystal composition. Specifically, a liquid crystal composition containing one or two or more compounds represented by general formula (i) in the specification and one or two or more compounds represented by general formula (ii) in the specification, and having a high Δn and a high Δε.

Aromatic isothiocyanates of formula C

##STR00001##

liquid-crystalline media comprising one or more compounds of formula C, and high-frequency components comprising these media, especially microwave components for high-frequency devices, such as devices for shifting the phase of microwaves, tunable filters, tunable metamaterial structures, and electronic beam steering antennas, e.g. phased array antennas.

The present invention relates to polymerisable compounds, to processes and intermediates for the preparation thereof, to liquid-crystal (LC) media comprising them, and to the use of the polymerisable compounds and LC media for optical, electro-optical and electronic purposes, in particular in LC displays, especially in LC displays of the polymer sustained alignment (PS, PSA) and self-aligning (SA) type.

The invention relates to a light modulation element comprising a polymer stabilized cholesteric liquid crystalline medium sandwiched between two substrates (1), provided with a common electrode structure (2) and a driving electrode structure (3) individually, wherein the substrate with driving and/or common electrode structure is additionally provided with an alignment electrode structure (4) which is separated from the driving and or common electrode structure on the same substrate by an dielectric layer (5), characterized in that the light modulation element comprises at least one alignment layer (6) directly adjacent to the liquid crystalline medium.

The invention is further relates to a method of production of said light modulation element and to the use of said light modulation element in various types of optical and electro-optical devices, such as electro-optical displays, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), non-linear optic (NLO) devices, and optical information storage devices.

The invention relates to a light modulation element comprising a cholesteric liquid crystalline medium sandwiched between two substrates, each provided with an electrode structure, wherein at least one of the substrates is additionally provided with an alignment layer which is provided with a photoresist pattern consisting of periodic substantially parallel stripes. The invention is further related to a method of production of said light modulation element and to the use of said light modulation element in various types of optical and electro-optical devices, such as electro-optical displays, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), non-linear optic (NLO) devices, and optical information storage devices.

The present invention is to find appropriate manufacturing conditions for obtaining a homogeneous scattering state, a homogeneous transparent state, and a homogeneous driving voltage state and to obtain a polymer dispersed liquid crystal display element that has homogeneous properties. A polymer dispersed liquid crystal display element having excellent homogeneity can be obtained by irradiating a light control layer-forming material containing a liquid crystal material and a polymerizable composition with ultraviolet light under specific ultraviolet irradiation conditions to polymerize the polymerizable composition.

As a material used in an element used for phase control of an electromagnetic wave signal having a frequency of 1 GHz to 10 THz, a liquid crystal composition is required, which has a high upper limit temperature of a nematic phase, a low lower limit temperature of a nematic phase, large dielectric anisotropy and a small tan δ in a frequency region where the phase control of an electromagnetic wave signal is performed, and stability against heat, and which has an excellent balance of the characteristics. A liquid crystal composition which is used in an element for phase control of an electromagnetic wave signal having any frequency from 1 GHz to 10 THz, the liquid crystal composition containing at least one compound selected from compounds represented by Formula (1) as a first component. ##STR00001##

Provided is a liquid crystal composition satisfying at least one or having suitable balance regarding at least two of characteristics such as high maximum or low minimum temperature of a nematic phase, large optical anisotropy, large positive dielectric anisotropy and high stability to ultraviolet light, and a liquid crystal display device including such a composition, particularly an encapsulated liquid crystal display device, and a liquid crystal display device serving as a constituent of 3D lenses. The liquid crystal composition contains a specific compound having large optical anisotropy as a first component, and a specific compound having large optical anisotropy and large positive dielectric anisotropy as a second component; a specific compound having large positive dielectric anisotropy as a third component; and a specific compound having large optical anisotropy and further having high maximum or low minimum temperature as a fourth component, and the liquid crystal display device includes the composition.

The present invention relates to a liquid crystal composition for a light-scattering liquid crystal device shown in FIG. 1 containing a polymerizable compound selected from the group consisting of compounds represented by the following general formula (1) as a first component and containing a compound having a negative dielectric anisotropy as a second component, a light-scattering liquid crystal device using the liquid crystal composition, and a smart window using the light-scattering liquid crystal device. A reverse mode type light-scattering liquid crystal device can have excellent transparency when no voltage is applied and a reduced driving voltage by the liquid crystal composition of the present invention.