An object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing an optical laminate in which an alignment defect is less likely to occur in a light-absorbing anisotropic layer even in a case where a surface of a photo-alignment layer is rubbed; an optical laminate; and an image display device. The method for manufacturing an optical laminate according to an embodiment of the present invention is a method for manufacturing an optical laminate in which an optical laminate including a photo-alignment layer and a light-absorbing anisotropic layer and having a front transmittance of 60% or less is produced and which includes a photo-alignment layer formation step of forming a photo-alignment layer on a polymer film, and a light-absorbing anisotropic layer formation step of applying a liquid crystal composition containing a dichroic substance and a high-molecular liquid crystalline compound onto the photo-alignment layer to form a light-absorbing anisotropic layer.

The invention relates to a reactive mesogen (RM) formulation comprising a conductive additive, to a polymer film obtained thereof, and the use of the RM formulation and polymer film in optical or electrooptical components or devices, like optical retardation films for liquid crystal displays (LCDs).

An optically anisotropic layer including a polymer and a compound having a mesogen skeleton, wherein the polymer has a property such that a film of the polymer that is formed by a coating method using a solution of the polymer satisfies nz(P)>nx(P)ny(P), wherein nx(P) is a refractive index in a direction which, among in-plane directions of the film, gives a maximum refractive index, ny(P) is a refractive index in a direction which is perpendicular to the direction of nx(P) among the in-plane directions of the film, and nz(P) a refractive index in a thickness direction of the film, and the compound having a mesogen skeleton shows an in-plane retardation with reverse wavelength distribution under specific conditions.

The limitation of the different classes of responsive liquid crystals such as volatility in case of low molecular weight liquid crystals (LMWLCs) can be overcome by the development of a responsive film based on polymerliquid crystals (PLCs) and reactive mesogens (RMs or reactive liquid crystal monomers) to create a responsive film or coating material which appears to be easily alignable and processable. That coating material shows a large response of which the properties can be tuned in a modular approach. In this way, the advantages of both materials, PLCs and RMs, were combined, yielding stable films, which can be aligned when desired and which stimuli-responsive properties can be tuned by the choice of RMs. Thus mixtures of PLCs with RMs open the doors to a wide variety of stimuli-responsive coating systems, without the need of time consuming trial-and-error synthesis of PLCs and closed liquid crystal cells. By choosing chiral RMs, cholesteric LC coatings can for instance be fabricated, while a light responsive RM could provide a light responsive coating. In addition, one could use similar methods as were used for LMWLCs with RMs in closed cells to prepare for example broadband reflectors or patterned coatings that change topography by a stimulus.

A polymer having excellent liquid crystal alignment and electrical properties and thus is suitable for use as a liquid crystal alignment agent, a liquid crystal alignment agent including the same, a liquid crystal alignment film formed from the liquid crystal alignment agent, and a liquid crystal display device including the liquid crystal alignment film are provided.

The problem that the present invention is to solve is to provide an optical film that has less alignment defects and is less liable to cause variation in the optical characteristics when placed in a high temperature state. The present invention provides an optical film containing a structural unit derived from a specific compound, that is, an optical film containing a structural unit derived from a compound represented by the general formula (I), which has less alignment defects and is less liable to cause variation in the optical characteristics when placed in a high temperature state, and also provides a display device including the optical film.

A flexible liquid crystal optical shutter and a manufacturing method thereof are disclosed. A box body filled with a liquid crystal mixture is irradiated with ultraviolet light to form supporting column structures, which increases the bending resistance of the flexible liquid crystal optical shutter, and may improve the mechanical stability of the liquid crystal optical shutter while maintaining the haze of the flexible liquid crystal optical shutter. The manufacturing method is simple. After the manufactured flexible liquid crystal optical shutter is connected to a power supply, the brightness of the liquid crystal optical shutter may be adjusted by changing the magnitude of voltage applied, so that the liquid crystal optical shutter may replace curtains to some extent, solves some limitations of coated glass, and has a good application prospect in vehicle-mounted household glass windows and the like.

The present disclosure provides a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel, including cleaning the first substrate by a hydrophobic surface cleaning material and cleaning the second substrate by a hydrophilic surface cleaning material; heating the first substrate and the second substrate at a high temperature; bonding the first substrate with the second substrate to from a liquid crystal cell; and irradiating the liquid crystal cell with UV light to form a first thin film on the surface of the first substrate and to form a second thin film on the surface of the second substrate.

Disclosed is a substrate which has thereon a marking or layer comprising a salt-free cured chiral liquid crystal precursor composition which comprises one or more nematic compounds A and one or more chiral dopant compounds B which are capable of giving rise to a cholesteric state of the chiral liquid crystal precursor composition and are of formula (I) as set forth herein. A modifying resin made from one or more polymerizable monomers comprising an average of at least one ether functionality per polymerizable group is disposed between the substrate and the marking or layer and in contact with the marking or layer in one or more areas thereof. The modifying resin changes the position of a selective reflection band exhibited by the cured chiral liquid crystal precursor composition on the substrate in the one or more areas.

A light control layer contains a liquid crystal composition and a resin composition. The liquid crystal composition is composed of a liquid crystal compound having a nematic-isotropic phase transition temperature of 110 C. or greater and 140 C. or less, the resin composition contains an acrylic polymer, a bridging group of the acrylic polymer is a saturated alkyl group having 1 or more and 12 or fewer carbon atoms, and the resin composition contains, in the acrylic polymer, a moiety in which the saturated alkyl group is a linear alkyl group, whereby a light control device operates normally over a wider temperature range.