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 is a polarizing element which has an excellent antireflection function as being applied to an image display device; and a circularly polarizing plate and an image display device, each of which has the polarizing element. The polarizing element has an alignment film and an anisotropic light-absorbing film formed using a dichroic substance, in which a degree S of alignment of the anisotropic light-absorbing film is 0.92 or more, and an average refractive index n.sub.ave at a wavelength of 400 to 700 nm of the alignment film is 1.55 to 2.0.

The present specification provides a multi-layer liquid crystal film including: a substrate; a first alignment film comprising an alignment material and an acrylate in which a weight ratio of the alignment material to the acrylate is 3:1 to 5:1; a first liquid crystal film provided on the first alignment film; a second alignment film provided on the first liquid crystal film; and a second liquid crystal film provided on the second alignment film, and a method for manufacturing a polarizing plate, the method including: laminating the multi-layer liquid crystal film to a polarizer and peeling off the substrate.

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.

A polymeric lyotropic liquid crystal solution comprises a birefringent aromatic polymer. A linear polarizer layer is obtained by shear-coating the polymeric lyotropic liquid crystal solution on a coatable substrate, and treating the resulting coating layer with a doping-passivation solution containing iodine and multi-valent cations. A linear polarizer includes a birefringent coating layer of 1.0 micrometers or less in thickness, and contains birefringent aromatic polymer, iodine anions, and multi-valent cations. An optical article includes an optical retarder layer of 1.0 micrometers or less in thickness and a linear polarizer layer of 1.0 micrometers or less in thickness, with an intermediate layer between the linear polarizer layer and the optical retarder layer. The optical retarder layer contains a first birefringent aromatic polymer generally aligned along a first alignment direction and the linear polarizer layer contains a second birefringent aromatic polymer generally aligned along a second alignment direction, with an angle between the first alignment direction and the second alignment direction in a range of 40° to 50°.

The present invention is a liquid crystal display device including a pair of substrates, a liquid crystal layer which is sandwiched between the pair of substrates and contains a liquid crystal material, and an alignment layer which is in contact with the liquid crystal layer. In this liquid crystal display device, at least one of the pair of substrates has a retardation layer on a side toward the liquid crystal layer, the alignment layer aligns a liquid crystal compound in the liquid crystal material, the retardation layer contains a polymer formed by polymerization of at least one monomer, and the at least one monomer includes a specific monomer.

Embodiments relate to an optical film and a liquid crystal display device comprising the same. More specifically, the embodiments relate to an optical film that is excellent in optical characteristics and has no polarization unevenness since it comprises a base layer that has a low in-plane retardation and a low thickness direction retardation and has an excellent adhesiveness by virtue of a proper level of surface tension, a process for preparing the same, and a liquid crystal display device comprising the same.

Provided is a back light unit comprising a plurality of LED light source formed on a printed circuit board and a resin layer which is laminated on the LED light source and forwardly induces diffusion of the emitted light wherein the resin layer is made of synthetic resin comprising an oligomer. According to the present invention, an essential light guide plate for a general back light unit configuration is removed and a resin layer mainly consisting of an oligomer is used to guide the light source, and thereby decreasing the number of the light source, minimizing luminance variation when the unit is lighted at a high temperature and kept it for a predetermined time period, and implementing excellent heat-resistant property and optical property.

An optically transparent adhesive resin composition includes an ester polymer which contains an ester bond within a repeating unit, a (meth)acrylic ester polymer which contains a (meth)acrylic ester bond within the repeating unit, a rubber polymer, and a crystalline polymer.

The present specification provides a multi-layer liquid crystal film including: a substrate; a first alignment film provided on the substrate; a first liquid crystal film provided on the first alignment film; a second alignment film provided on the first liquid crystal film and comprising a multifunctional acrylate; and a second liquid crystal film provided on the second alignment film, and a method for manufacturing a polarizing plate, including: laminating the multi-layer liquid crystal film to a polarizer, and peeling off the substrate.