The present invention relates to a liquid-crystal (LC) medium comprising one or more polymerisable compounds and to the use of the LC medium for optical, electro-optical and electronic purposes, in particular in LC displays, especially in LC displays of the polymer sustained alignment (PS, PSA) or self-aligning (SA) type.

The invention is to provide a liquid crystal composition satisfying at least one of characteristics such as a high maximum temperature of a nematic phase, a low minimum temperature of the nematic phase, a small viscosity, a suitable optical anisotropy, a large negative dielectric anisotropy, a large specific resistance, a high stability to ultraviolet light and a high stability to heat, or having a suitable balance regarding at least two of the characteristics; and is to provide an AM device having a short response time, a large voltage holding ratio, a large contrast ratio, a long service life and so forth; wherein the liquid crystal composition includes a specific compound having a large negative dielectric anisotropy and a low minimum temperature as a first component, a specific compound having a small viscosity or a large maximum temperature as a second component and a specific compound having a polymerizable group as a third component, and a liquid crystal display device contains the composition.

The present invention relates to polymerisable compounds, to processes and intermediates for the preparation thereof, to liquid-crystal (LC) media comprising them, and to the use of the polymerisable compounds and LC media for optical, electro-optical and electronic purposes, in particular in LC displays, especially in LC displays of the polymer sustained alignment (PS, PSA) and self-aligning (SA) type.

A photoreactive liquid crystal composition containing (A) a photoreactive polymer liquid crystal which includes a photoreactive side chain in which at least one type of reaction selected from (A-1) photocrosslinking and (A-2) photoisomerization occurs, and (B) a low molecular weight liquid crystal. An optical element or display element is formed having a liquid crystal cell including the photoreactive liquid crystal composition.

The present invention relates to liquid crystal (LC) media comprising one or more polymerisable compounds as further specified in the description or claims and a self-alignment additive for vertical alignment. The media are adapted for use in LC displays, especially in LC displays of the polymer-sustained alignment type.

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 certain compounds of formula X, as specified in the text.

Provided is a polar compound having high chemical stability, high capability of aligning liquid crystal molecules, high solubility in a liquid crystal composition, and a large voltage holding ratio when used in a liquid crystal display device. The compound is represented by formula (1):

##STR00001##

in which, for example, R.sup.1 is alkyl having 1 to 15 carbons; MES is a mesogen group having at least one ring; Sp.sup.1 is a single bond or alkylene having 1 to 10 carbons; M.sup.1 and M.sup.2 are hydrogen; and R.sup.2 is a group represented by formulas (1a) to (1c):

##STR00002##

in which, Sp.sup.2 and Sp.sup.a are a single bond or alkylene having 1 to 10 carbons; S.sup.1 is >CH—; S.sup.2 is >C<; and X.sup.1 is —OH.

A polymer blend is provided of a fluoropolymer and a liquid crystal polymer. The blend is achieved using a compatibilizer composition that contains a copolymer having a fluorine-containing monomer and a liquid crystal monomer.

The present invention relates to polymerisable compounds, to processes and intermediates for the preparation thereof, to liquid-crystal (LC) media comprising them, and to the use of the polymerisable compounds and LC media for optical, electro-optical and electronic purposes, in particular in LC displays, especially in LC displays of the polymer sustained alignment (PS, PSA) and self-aligning (SA) type.

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.