The liquid crystal display device includes, sequentially from a viewing surface side to a back surface side: a linearly polarizing plate and a circularly polarizing plate including a first λ/4 retardation layer; a thin-film transistor substrate including a pair of electrodes disposed in a pixel region and a metal line disposed outside the pixel region; a liquid crystal layer containing liquid crystal molecules aligned parallel to the thin-film transistor substrate, alignment of the liquid crystal molecules varying in response to an electric field generated by application of voltage to the pair of electrodes; a color filter substrate including a color filter layer; and a backlight, the thin-film transistor substrate including a second λ/4 retardation layer, the color filter substrate including a reflective layer disposed outside the pixel region and configured to reflect incident light from the backlight toward the back surface.

An optical film, a polarizing plate, and an image display device, each having an optically anisotropic layer obtained by curing a polymerizable liquid crystal composition including a polymerizable liquid crystal compound (LCC) having forward wavelength dispersion and a monofunctional compound, and immobilizing an alignment state of the polymerizable LCC. The number a.sub.1 of atoms of the polymerizable LCC and the number a.sub.2 of atoms of the monofunctional compound satisfy a relationship of Expression (1): 0.2<a.sub.2/a.sub.1<0.55; the number b.sub.1 of the rings B.sup.1 contained in the polymerizable LCC and the total number b.sub.2 of the aromatic rings Ar and the rings B.sup.2 contained in the monofunctional compound satisfy a relationship of Expression (2): b.sub.2=b.sub.1×0.5 or b.sub.2=(b.sub.1+1)×0.5.

A compensation film includes: a first retardation layer including a polymer; a second retardation layer including a liquid crystal having positive birefringence; and a compensation layer including a liquid crystal having a vertical alignment property, where an angle between slow axes of the first and second retardation layers is in a range of about 85 to about 95 degrees, an entire in-plane retardation (R.sub.e0) of the first retardation layer, the second retardation layer and the compensation layer for wavelengths of 450 nm, 550 nm and 650 nm satisfy the following inequation: R.sub.e0(450 nm)<R.sub.e0(550 nm)<R.sub.e0(650 nm), an in-plane retardation (R.sub.e3) of the compensation layer for the incident light having a wavelength of about 550 nm is in a range of about zero to about 50 nm, and a thickness direction retardation (R.sub.th3) of the compensation layer for the incident light is less than zero.

A curved display device includes a first substrate, a second substrate facing the first substrate, a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first and second substrates, the liquid crystal layer including liquid crystal molecules, a first alignment layer including reactive mesogens which are polymerized with each other, the first alignment layer being disposed between the first substrate and the liquid crystal layer, and a second alignment layer disposed between the liquid crystal layer and the second substrate, where the reactive mesogens have a functional group having charges.

The present invention provides a quantum dot polarization plate, which includes, arranged in sequence, a release film (16), an adhesive layer (15), a retardation layer (14), a polarization layer (13), a protection layer (12), and a surface protection film (11). The retardation layer (14) is formed a mixed material including quantum dots and disk-like liquid crystal by means of a film formation process and shows dual effects of light emission and viewing angle compensation thereby reducing the operations required for manufacturing the quantum dot polarization plate and allowing the quantum dot polarization plate to maintain light polarity, while effectively increasing color gamut coverage of a display and achieving wide view angle of the display, and the manufacturing operation thereof is simple.

According to the invention, there is provided a mirror with an image display function including, in this order: an image display device; a ¼ wavelength plate; a circular polarization reflection layer; and a front surface plate made of glass or plastic, in which the circular polarization reflection layer includes a cholesteric liquid crystal layer, and the cholesteric liquid crystal layer has a central wavelength of selective reflection in a visible light region. The mirror with an image display function of the invention is capable of displaying a bright image.

A switchable privacy display comprises a spatial light modulator, and switchable liquid crystal retarder arranged between crossed quarter-wave plates and polarisers. In a privacy mode of operation, on-axis light from the spatial light modulator is directed without loss, whereas off-axis light has reduced luminance to reduce the visibility of the display to off-axis snoopers. The display may be rotated to achieve privacy operation in landscape and portrait orientations. Further, display reflectivity may be reduced for on-axis reflections of ambient light, while reflectivity may be increased for off-axis light to achieve increased visual security. In a public mode of operation, the liquid crystal retardance is adjusted so that off-axis luminance and reflectivity are unmodified. The display may also be operated to switch between day-time and night-time operation, for example for use in an automotive environment.

The present invention is to provide an optical film having optically anisotropic layer having excellent durability, and a polarizing plate and an image display device using the same. An optical film of the present invention is an optical film having at least an optically anisotropic layer, in which the optically anisotropic layer is a layer obtained by polymerizing a polymerizable liquid crystal composition containing a predetermined liquid crystal compound and a polymerization initiator, and an extrapolated glass transition starting temperature of the optically anisotropic layer is 70° C. or higher.

The present invention provides a composition to form an optically anisotropic film exhibiting excellent reverse wavelength dispersibility, an optically anisotropic film, a circularly polarizing plate; a display device; and a near-infrared absorbing coloring agent. The composition includes a liquid crystal compound or a polymer, and a near-infrared absorbing coloring agent having a structural moiety including a coloring agent skeleton and a mesogenic group that is bonded to the coloring agent skeleton, in which the near-infrared absorbing coloring agent satisfies Condition 1 where an absolute value λ1 of a square root of a first eigenvalue and an absolute value λ2 of a square root of a second eigenvalue satisfy a relationship of Formula (A) λ2/λ1≤0.60; and Condition 2: An angle between a direction of a transition moment of absorption of the infrared absorbing coloring agent and a direction of an eigenvector of the first eigenvalue is 75.0° or more.

Provided are 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 is 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): 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 and a polymerizable liquid crystal compound represented by Formula (2): 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, and the optically anisotropic film satisfies Formula (3): Re(450)/Re(550)<1 or Formula (4): Rth(450)/Rth(550)<1, and has a degree of alignment as measured by Raman spectroscopy of 0.4 or more.