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

##STR00001##

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 the compounds of formula X.

A substrate having thereon a marking or layer comprising a cured chiral liquid crystal precursor composition which comprises at least one salt that changes the position of a selective reflection band exhibited by the cured composition compared to the position of a selective reflection band exhibited by a cured composition that does not contain the at least one salt. A modifying resin made from one or more polymerizable monomers is disposed between the substrate and the marking or layer and changes the position of the selective reflection band exhibited by the cured precursor composition comprising the at least one salt on the substrate in the one or more areas. This abstract is neither intended to define the invention disclosed in this specification nor intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way.

Mesogenic compounds of formula I-Z ##STR00001##
are suitable for use in mesogenic media. Such mesogenic media can exhibit a blue phase and comprise component A, consisting of one or more compounds of formula I-Z, and, optionally a component B, consisting of one or more compounds selected from the group of compounds of formulae
I-M and I-U, ##STR00002##
wherein the parameters are as defined herein. The media can also be stabilized by a polymer. The media can be used in electro-optical light modulation elements and displays.

The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device that includes a particular color filter containing a material containing chiral liquid crystals and a particular pigment. The present invention provides a liquid crystal display device that can prevent a decrease in the voltage holding ratio (VHR) of a liquid crystal layer and solve the problem of display defects, such as white spots, variations in alignment, and burn-in. Because liquid crystal display devices according to the present invention characteristically prevent a decrease in the voltage holding ratio (VHR) of a liquid crystal layer and reduces the occurrence of display defects, such as burn-in, the liquid crystal display devices are particularly useful as liquid crystal display devices in IPS mode and FFS mode for active-matrix driving and can be applied to household electrical appliances, automobiles, production facilities, measuring and analytical instruments, and communication devices.

An optical device (20) includes an electro-optical layer, including a liquid crystal material (24) with a heliconical structure having a pitch that is less than 250 nm and is modifiable by an electric field. An array of excitation electrodes (28) extends over the electro-optical layer. Control circuitry (23) is coupled to apply control voltage waveforms to the excitation electrodes and is configured to modify the control voltage waveforms so as to locally modify a molecule director angle of the heliconical structure and thus to generate a specified phase modulation profile in the electro-optical layer.

Provided are a method for producing a reflective layer having excellent diffuse reflectivity and a reflective layer having excellent diffuse reflectivity. The method for producing a reflective layer of the present invention includes Step 1 of applying a composition containing a liquid crystal compound and a chiral agent onto a substrate and heating the applied composition to align the liquid crystal compound into a cholesteric liquid crystalline phase state, and Step 2 of forming a reflective layer by cooling or heating the composition so that the helical twisting power of the chiral agent contained in the composition in the cholesteric liquid crystalline phase state increases by 5% or more.

The present invention relates to a method for preparing a solid-state photonic crystal IPN composite functionalized with an enzyme, a photonic crystal IPN composite prepared by the method, and a biosensor using the photonic crystal IPN composite. The method of the present invention includes (1) mixing a nonreactive chiral dopant with a reactive nematic mesogen, curing the mixture, and removing the chiral dopant while maintaining a helical structure, to form a solid-state helical photonic crystal structure, (2) infiltrating a PAA hydrogel into the internal space of the photonic crystal structure, followed by curing to form an IPN-structured composite, and (3) immobilizing an enzyme in the IPN-structured composite. The PAA hydrogel is infiltrated into the solid-state helical photonic crystal structure and the enzyme is immobilized such that a pH change caused by the enzymatic reaction induces shrinkage and expansion of the PAA hydrogel, leading to a color change.

A compound has a strong HTP and a high temperature dependence of HTP. In addition, a liquid crystal composition, a cured substance, an optical anisotropic boy, and a reflection film the above-described compound. The compound is represented by General Formula (1), wherein X.sup.1 and X.sup.2 each independently represent —CH═CH—or C≡C—. ##STR00001##

Provided is a liquid crystal composition capable of forming an optically anisotropic layer, and method thereof, in which a variation in a twisted angle of liquid crystal compound in an in-plane direction is suppressed an optical film, and a circularly polarizing plate for an organic EL display. The liquid crystal composition contains a liquid crystal, optically active compound A which is a photosensitive optically active compound whose helical twisting power changes upon irradiation with light and has a molar absorption coefficient of 5,000 M.sup.−1.Math.cm.sup.−1 or more with respect to light having a wavelength of 365 nm, and an optically active compound B having a molar absorption coefficient with respect to light having a wavelength of 365 nm smaller than the molar absorption coefficient of the optically active compound A, in which a mass content ratio of the optically active compound A to the liquid crystal compound is less than 0.01.

A double layer liquid crystal device comprises a first and a second layer with orthogonal or crossed alignment of the liquid crystal phase of the two layers, in which the first and second layer have first and second alignment aids comprised of a polymerized or polymerizable molecular compound. The layers are aligned by UV photoalignment and vertical self-alignment by the aid of suitable additives.