Novel Schiff base and diazo liquid crystals with a selenium center forming nanostructured Cub.sub.bi phases are presented herein. The new liquid crystals can be used for the fabrication of high-performance photovoltaic devices, while exhibiting improved thermal stability and electron-transport properties as compared to currently known liquid crystals.

Novel Schiff base and diazo liquid crystals with a selenium center forming nanostructured Cub.sub.bi phases are presented herein. The new liquid crystals can be used for the fabrication of high-performance photovoltaic devices, while exhibiting improved thermal stability and electron-transport properties as compared to currently known liquid crystals.

A liquid-crystal (LC) medium which is based on a mixture of polar compounds and is substantially dielectrically neutral, its use for optical, electro-optical and electronic purposes, in particular as optical retarder or optical compensator in LC displays, an optical retarder or optical compensator containing the LC medium, an optical, electrooptical or electronic device containing the optical retarder or optical compensator, and a process of manufacturing the optical retarder or optical compensator.

The invention relates to liquid-crystalline media which can be used, in particular, for electro-optical displays having active-matrix addressing based on the ECB effect and for IPS (in-plane switching) displays or FFS (fringe field switching) displays.

The invention relates to novel compositions comprising at least two anisotropic compounds of formula

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as well as to liquid crystalline networks, films and electro-optical devices comprising the compositions.

Liquid-crystalline media which can be used, in particular, for electro-optical displays having active-matrix addressing based on the ECB effect and for IPS (in-plane switching) displays or FFS (fringe field switching) displays.

The present invention provides a liquid crystal composition comprising: at least one compound of general Formula I; at least one compound of general Formula II; at least one compound of general Formula M and at least one compound of general Formula N. The present invention also provides a liquid crystal display device comprising the liquid crystal composition. The liquid crystal composition provided in the present invention has a higher optical anisotropy, a higher clearing point, a higher dielectric anisotropy, a high transmittance and a larger average elastic constant. When the liquid crystal composition is used in the IPS liquid crystal display device, the transmittance of the display device can be effectively improved, so that the display device has a good display performance while also having good energy-saving and environment-friendly characteristics. ##STR00001## ##STR00002## ##STR00003## ##STR00004##

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 invention relates to a liquid-crystalline medium which comprises at least one compound of the formula I,

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in which
R.sup.1, R.sup.1*, rings A and B, Z.sup.1, L.sup.1, L.sup.2, a and b have the meanings indicated in Claim 1,
and to the use thereof for an active-matrix display, in particular based on the VA, PSA, PS-VA, PALC, FFS, PS-FFS, IPS or PS-IPS effect.

The invention relates to liquid-crystal mixtures which comprise polyfluorinated additives, and to liquid-crystal displays based on these mixtures.