A liquid crystal display panel performs displaying in the normally white mode. A first and a second polarizer are disposed so that the transmission axes thereof are perpendicular to each other. A liquid crystal layer is in a twisted alignment state in the absence of an applied voltage. A first substrate has a first electrode having a plurality of rectangular openings extending in parallel to each other, and a second electrode facing the first electrode with a dielectric layer interposed therebetween. The openings each independently have a width S of more than 0.6 μm and not more than 1.4 μm, and each pair of adjacent openings independently has a distance L therebetween of not less than 0.3 μm and not more than 0.7 μm. A first and a second horizontal alignment film each have an azimuthal anchoring energy of not more than 1×10.sup.−4J/m.sup.2.

Improved illumination optics for various applications. The illumination optics may include an optical beam spreading structure that provides a large spread angle for an incident collimated beam or provides finer detail or resolution compared to convention diffractive optical elements. The optical beam spreading structure may include first and second spatially varying polarizers that are optically aligned with each other. The first and second spatially varying polarizers may be formed of a liquid crystal material, such as a multi-twist retarder (MTR). The first and second spatially varying polarizers may diffract light of orthogonal polarization states, which allows for different diffraction patterns to be used in a single optical structure. The two patterns may provide a combined field of view that is larger than either of the first and second fields of view or may provide finer detail or resolution than the first or second fields of view can provide alone.

Systems and methods for providing a display for an electronic device that includes a liquid crystal display panel assembly, a backlight assembly that includes a light source, and a spatially varying polarizer that provides phase retardation that varies as a function of propagation length away from the light source. The display may also include a linear polarizer and other optical components that improve the efficiency of the backlight assembly, thereby reducing power consumption, cost, space requirements, and provide other advantages.

An optical device is provided. The optical device includes a first optical element configured to output an elliptically polarized light having one or more predetermined polarization ellipse parameters. The optical device also includes a second optical element including a birefringent material with a chirality, and configured to receive the elliptically polarized light from the first optical element and reflect the elliptically polarized light as a circularly polarized light.

A transmittance-variable device is provided in the present application. The present application can provide a transmittance-variable device, which can be applied to various applications without causing problems such as a crosstalk phenomenon, a rainbow phenomenon or a mirroring phenomenon, while having excellent transmittance-variable characteristics.

A light source module includes a light guide plate, a light source and a light regulating element. The light guide plate has a first light emitting surface and a second light emitting surface, and a light incident surface connected between the first light emitting surface and the second light emitting surface. The second light emitting surface has a plurality of microstructures. The light source is disposed adjacent to the light incident surface. The light regulating element is disposed adjacent to the second light emitting surface. A dual display device including the light source module, a first display panel and a second display panel is also provided. The first display panel is disposed on a side of the light guide plate facing the first light emitting surface. The second display panel is disposed on a side of the light regulating element that is away from the light guide plate.

The present application relates to an optical film and a use thereof. In the present application, through control of an alignment state of a liquid crystal compound in a liquid crystal layer, the liquid crystal layer may exhibit so-called reverse-wavelength dispersion while forming a single thin layer. An optical film including the liquid crystal layer may show optical modulation in a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), organic light emitting device (OLED), or the like, or may be used in various applications, for example, as an optical element capable of improving light utilization efficiency, an element for implementation of a stereoscopic image and quality improvement thereof, and so forth.

Provided are a thin stereoscopic image display device that can also deal with a requirement for flexibility and a wearable display device including this stereoscopic image display device. The stereoscopic image display device includes a display panel, an optical element, and a circularly polarizing plate, in which the optical element includes an optically-anisotropic layer that is formed of a liquid crystal compound, the optically-anisotropic layer has a liquid crystal alignment pattern in which a direction of an optical axis derived from the liquid crystal compound changes while continuously rotating along at least one in-plane direction of the optically-anisotropic layer, and circularly polarized light emitted from the display panel is caused to advance in a direction different from a direction in which the circularly polarized light component is incident.

The optical element is an optical element including a first optically anisotropic layer which is a cured layer of a liquid crystal composition containing a rod-like liquid crystal compound and a second optically anisotropic layer which is laminated on the first optically anisotropic layer and is a cured layer of a liquid crystal composition containing a disk-like liquid crystal compound, wherein each of the first optically anisotropic layer and the second optically anisotropic layer, has a liquid crystal alignment pattern in which an optical axis of the rod-like liquid crystal compound and an optical axis of the disk-like liquid crystal compound are respectively parallel to a surface of the optically anisotropic layer and oriented along at least one in-plane direction, orientation of the optical axis changes continuously and rotationally, and the orientation of the optical axis rotates by 180 with a period of 0.5 m to 5 m.

A method for manufacturing a polarizing plate having excellent appearance properties and including a polarizer, an optical rotatory layer, and a brightness enhancement film, a polarizing plate, and a liquid crystal display device including the polarizing plate, are described. The method includes forming an optical rotatory layer, which has a film thickness of 1 to 10 m and rotates a polarization axis of linearly polarized light, on a temporary support to manufacture a temporary support with an optical rotatory layer; bonding the optical rotatory layer of the temporary support with an optical rotatory layer and polarizer through a curable adhesive layer, and curing the curable adhesive layer to form a first bonding layer having a storage elastic modulus of 2 to 1500 MPa; peeling off the temporary support from the laminate; and bonding the optical rotatory layer of the laminate and a brightness enhancement film through a second bonding layer.