The present invention relates to aromatic isothiocyanates of formula U

##STR00001##

as defined in claim 1, to liquid-crystalline media comprising one or more compounds of formula U and to 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 aromatic isothiocyanates of formula U

##STR00001##

as defined in claim 1, to liquid-crystalline media comprising one or more compounds of formula U and to 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.

Provided are a surface-modified metal oxide particle dispersion liquid and the like including surface-modified metal oxide particles that are dispersed in a dispersion medium, the surface-modified metal oxide particles being obtained by modifying surfaces of metal oxide particles to have hydrosilyl groups, hydrophobic functional groups, and silanol groups. In the surface-modified metal oxide particle dispersion liquid, a ratio of the hydrosilyl groups to the silanol groups is 5:95 or higher and 50:50 or lower.

The present invention relates to liquid crystalline (LC) medium, to a method of its production and to the use of such LC media in polymer network liquid crystalline (PNLC) light modulation elements operated in the normally transparent mode. Furthermore, the present invention relates to such light modulation elements, as such, to the use of such light modulation elements as light shutters for transparent OLED displays, to the use of such light modulation elements in smart windows, and to a method of production of such light modulation elements according to the present invention.

The present invention relates to liquid crystalline (LC) medium, to a method of its production and to the use of such LC media in polymer network liquid crystalline (PNLC) light modulation elements operated in the normally transparent mode. Furthermore, the present invention relates to such light modulation elements, as such, to the use of such light modulation elements as light shutters for transparent OLED displays, to the use of such light modulation elements in smart windows, and to a method of production of such light modulation elements according to the present invention.

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.

The present invention relates to liquid-crystalline media (LC media) having negative or positive dielectric anisotropy, comprising a low-molecular-weight component and a polymerizable component. The polymerizable component comprises self-aligning, polymerizable mesogens (polymerizable self-alignment additives) which effect homeotropic (vertical) alignment of the LC media at a surface or the cell walls of a liquid-crystal display (LC display). The invention therefore also encompasses LC displays having homeotropic alignment of the LC medium without alignment layers. The invention discloses novel structures for self-alignment additives which have a certain position of the functional groups.

The present invention relates to liquid-crystalline media (LC media) having negative or positive dielectric anisotropy, comprising a low-molecular-weight component and a polymerizable component. The polymerizable component comprises self-aligning, polymerizable mesogens (polymerizable self-alignment additives) which effect homeotropic (vertical) alignment of the LC media at a surface or the cell walls of a liquid-crystal display (LC display). The invention therefore also encompasses LC displays having homeotropic alignment of the LC medium without alignment layers. The invention discloses novel structures for self-alignment additives which have a certain position of the functional groups.

The present invention relates to liquid crystalline (LC) medium, to a method of its production and to the use of such LC media in polymer network liquid crystalline (PNLC) light modulation elements operated in the reverse mode. Furthermore, the present invention relates to such light modulation elements, as such, to the use of such light modulation elements as light shutters for transparent OLED displays, and to a method of production of such light modulation elements according to the present invention.

Isotropic (amorphous) elastomers and methods of preparation are described. The isotropic elastomer may include a first monomer having an alkene functionality and a second monomer having a thiol functionality. The first monomer may be a liquid crystal monomer and the second monomer may be an isotropic monomer. Unlike polydomain LCEs, the isotropic elastomers may rapidly recover after deformation and have increased toughness relative to conventional elastomers prepared from wholly isotropic precursors.