An optical film suppresses at any azimuthal angle where the optical film is combined with a polarizer and applied as a circularly polarizing plate to a display device; a circularly polarizing plate; and a display device. The optical film includes a first, a second, and a third optically anisotropic layer in this order, in which the first layer is formed by fixing a vertically aligned disk-like liquid crystal compound or formed by fixing a horizontally aligned rod-like liquid crystal compound, the second layer is formed by fixing a rod-like liquid crystal compound twist-aligned along a helical axis extending in a thickness direction, the third layer is formed by fixing a vertically aligned rod-like liquid crystal compound, and at least one of the first, second, or third layers is formed of a liquid crystal compound containing a reverse wavelength dispersion liquid crystal compound.

The invention relates to a liquid-crystalline medium having a nematic phase comprising one or more compounds of formula X

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wherein the parameters have the meaning given in the text,
to the use thereof in an electro-optical display, particularly in an active-matrix display based on the IPS or FFS effect, to displays of this type which contain a liquid-crystalline medium of this type and to the use of the compounds of formula X for improvement of the transmission and/or response times of a liquid-crystalline medium which comprises one or more additional mesogenic compounds, as well as to certain compounds of formula X, as specified in the text.

A liquid-crystalline medium which comprises at least one compound selected from the group of compounds of the formulae IA to IH,

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in which Z.sup.1 denotes a single bond, —CH.sub.2CH.sub.2—, —CH═CH—, —CH.sub.2O—, —OCH.sub.2—, —CF.sub.2O—, —OCF.sub.2—, —COO—, —OCO—, —C.sub.2F.sub.4—, —(CH.sub.2).sub.4—, —CHFCHF—, —CF.sub.2CH.sub.2—, —CH.sub.2CF.sub.2—, —C≡C—, —CF═CF—, —CH═CHCHO— or —CH.sub.2CF.sub.2O—,
and the use thereof for an active-matrix display, in particular based on the VA, PSA, PS-VA, PALC, FFS, PS-FFS, SA-VA, PS-IPS or IPS effect.

A liquid-crystalline medium which comprises at least one compound selected from the group of compounds of the formulae IA to IH,

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in which Z.sup.1 denotes a single bond, —CH.sub.2CH.sub.2—, —CH═CH—, —CH.sub.2O—, —OCH.sub.2—, —CF.sub.2O—, —OCF.sub.2—, —COO—, —OCO—, —C.sub.2F.sub.4—, —(CH.sub.2).sub.4—, —CHFCHF—, —CF.sub.2CH.sub.2—, —CH.sub.2CF.sub.2—, —C≡C—, —CF═CF—, —CH═CHCHO— or —CH.sub.2CF.sub.2O—,
and the use thereof for an active-matrix display, in particular based on the VA, PSA, PS-VA, PALC, FFS, PS-FFS, SA-VA, PS-IPS or IPS effect.

Provided are a decorative film including a base material and a reflective layer having a convex structure, in which, in a cross section obtained by cutting the convex structure in a direction perpendicular to a plane direction of the decorative film, in a case where a direction in which an average Φ.sub.AVE of positive tilt angles is a largest is defined as a first direction and a direction in which the average Φ.sub.AVE of the positive tilt angles is a smallest is defined as a second direction, the decorative film has a region A in which Φ.sub.AVE in the first direction is 3° or more and Φ.sub.AVE in the second direction is less than 3°; and applications thereof.

The invention relates to bimesogenic compounds of formula I

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wherein R.sup.11, R.sup.12, MG.sup.11, MG.sup.12 and CG.sup.1 have the meaning given in claim 1, to the use of bimesogenic compounds of formula I in liquid crystal media and particular to flexoelectric liquid crystal devices comprising a liquid crystal medium according to the present invention.

The present disclosure relates to formulations having one, two, or more chiral dopants, as well as materials and methods including such formulations. In particular instances, the formulation can include an achiral host, such as a nematic substance.

The invention relates to a light modulation element comprising a polymer stabilized cholesteric liquid crystalline medium sandwiched between two substrates (1), provided with a common electrode structure (2) and a driving electrode structure (3) individually, wherein the substrate with driving and/or common electrode structure is additionally provided with an alignment electrode structure (4) which is separated from the driving and or common electrode structure on the same substrate by an dielectric layer (5), characterized in that the light modulation element comprises at least one alignment layer (6) directly adjacent to the liquid crystalline medium.

The invention is further relates to a method of production of said light modulation element and to the use of said light modulation element in various types of optical and electro-optical devices, such as electro-optical displays, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), non-linear optic (NLO) devices, and optical information storage devices.

Mesogenic compounds having a structure of Formula (I), (II) or (III): where A, B, X1, L, TG, m, and n are defined as in claim 1. Compositions containing these compounds, articles made from these polymerized and prepolymerized compositions, and methods of estimating the elastic constants and anchoring constants of a liquid crystal materials and mapping topological defect structures in liquid crystals using these compounds. ##STR00001##

Mesogenic compounds having a structure of Formula (I), (II) or (III): where A, B, X1, L, TG, m, and n are defined as in claim 1. Compositions containing these compounds, articles made from these polymerized and prepolymerized compositions, and methods of estimating the elastic constants and anchoring constants of a liquid crystal materials and mapping topological defect structures in liquid crystals using these compounds. ##STR00001##