A liquid crystal element includes a pair of substrates disposed to face each other, a liquid crystal layer disposed between the pair of substrates, and a liquid crystal alignment layer provided on each of the liquid crystal layer sides of the pair of substrates. The liquid crystal layer includes a compound having an alkenyl structure and a compound having a terphenyl ring structure, or includes a compound having an alkenyl structure and a terphenyl ring structure in the same molecule, and the liquid crystal alignment layer is a layer comprising a liquid crystal alignment agent containing a polymer (P) which has at least one selected from the group consisting of a radical polymerizable group, a photoinitiator group, a nitrogen-containing heterocyclic ring (excluding imide rings in polyimides), an amino group and a protected amino group.

Provided is a polymerizable liquid crystal compound represented by formula (1).

##STR00001##

An aspect can be exemplified, in which, in formula (1), W.sup.1 is hydrogen or a substituent, A.sup.1 is 1,4-phenylene, 1,4-cyclohexylene or naphthalene-2,6-diyl, Z.sup.1 and Y.sup.1 are a connecting group, m and n each are an integer from 0 to 7, in which an expression: 3m+n8 holds, Q.sup.1 is a spacer, and PG is a polymerizable group.

The invention relates to a light modulation element comprising a 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 a dielectric layer (5). 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 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.

Reactive mesogens (RMs), mixtures and formulations comprising RMs, polymers obtained from such RMs and RM mixtures, and the use of the RMs, RM mixtures and polymers in optical or electrooptical components or devices, like optical films for liquid crystal displays (LCDs).

The present invention is to provide an antioxidant for liquid crystal composition which contains one or more kinds of liquid crystal compounds having a positive dielectric anisotropy of 4 or more as an absolute value at 3% or more and is represented by Formula (II-1)

##STR00001##

(in the Formula (II-1), M.sup.y represents a hydrocarbon having from 1 to 25 carbon atoms, a 1,4-phenylene group, or a trans-1,4-cyclohexylene group, X.sup.y represent an alkylene group having from 1 to 15 carbon atoms, OCH.sub.2, CH.sub.2O, COO, OCO, CF.sub.2O, OCF.sub.2, CF.sub.2CF.sub.2, CHCHCOO, CHCHOCO, COOCHCH, OCOCHCH, CHCH, CC, a singlebond, a 1,4-phenylene group, or a trans-1,4-cyclohexylene group, and l represents an integer from 2 to 6), a liquid crystal composition containing the antioxidant, and a liquid crystal display device using the liquid crystal composition.

A liquid crystal composition includes a liquid crystal compound represented by the following formula I and a chiral agent. In formula I, R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 are independently selected from H, F, Cl, Br, I, CN, SCN, NCS, SF.sub.5, an alkyl group having 1-10 carbon atoms, an alkoxy group having 1-10 carbon atoms, an alkenyl group having 2-10 carbon atoms, an alkenyloxy group having 2-10 carbon atoms, an alkynyl group having 2-10 carbon atoms, or an alkynyloxy having 2-10 carbon atoms.

##STR00001##