An electrically controlled smart window, which includes two transparent plates arranged oppositely, a power supply component and an in-between light-adjusting area. Hereinto the light-adjusting area is divided into a matrix of light-adjusting units by pixel wall(s), and every units are closely arranged in a grid shape. To the power supply component, an electrode is connected with the pixel wall, and another is localized on the center of light-adjusting unit and did with the transparent plate. Both surface-charged liquid crystal polymer particles and conductive packing fluid are filled into the medium between the two transparent plates. According to the present disclosure, cholesteric liquid crystal polymer microparticles with specific reflection band and surface charges are used as basic reflectors, thereby achieving the significant advantages of being easy to manufacture, low cost, and stable performance, without causing interference to electromagnetic signals.

A compound represented by the General Formula (I) as defined herein, in which, in the General Formula (I), P.sup.1 and P.sup.2 each independently represent a hydrogen atom, —CN, —NCS, or a polymerizable group, Sp.sup.1 and Sp.sup.2 each independently represent a single bond or a divalent linking group as defined herein, Z.sup.1, Z.sup.2 and Z.sup.3 each independently represent a particular linking group as defined herein, X.sup.1 and X.sup.2 each independently represent a single bond or —S as defined herein, k represents an integer of 2 to 4, m and n each independently represent an integer of 0 to 3 as defined herein, A.sup.1, A.sup.2, A.sup.3, and A.sup.4 each independently represent a particular group as defined herein is provided.

The present invention relates to liquid-crystalline media comprising one or more compounds of formula T

##STR00001##

and one or more compounds selected from the group of compounds of formulae I, II and III,

##STR00002##

in which the parameters have the meaning indicated in Claim 1, and to components comprising these media for high-frequency technology, in particular phase shifters and microwave array antennas.

The invention relates to a light modulation element comprising a 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 a dielectric layer (5), characterized in that it comprises at least one alignment layer (6) directly adjacent to the liquid crystalline medium. The invention is further related 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.

The present invention provides a compound having an excellent amount of change in HTP and an excellent HTP saturation rate during exposure, and a liquid crystal composition including the compound. The compound of the present invention is a compound represented by General Formula (A).

(Y).sub.n-G-(X).sub.m   (A)

G represents a group represented by General Formula (B-1) or a group represented by General Formula (B-2), * represents a bonding position, and X and Y represent a predetermined group.

##STR00001##

A liquid crystal medium containing a compound of formula I

##STR00001## and one or more compounds of the formulae IIA, IIB, IIC and IID,

##STR00002## useable in optical, electro-optical and electronic purposes, in particular in LC displays.

An object is to provide a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal layer in which an alignment film is repeatedly used and a liquid crystal compound in a liquid crystal layer can be sufficiently aligned. The method of manufacturing a liquid crystal layer includes: an alignment film forming step of forming an alignment film on a support; a liquid crystal alignment layer alignment step of laminating a first liquid crystal composition including a polymerizable liquid crystal compound on the alignment film and aligning the first liquid crystal composition; a liquid crystal alignment layer forming step of polymerizing the aligned first liquid crystal composition to form a liquid crystal alignment layer; a liquid crystal layer alignment step of laminating a second liquid crystal composition including a polymerizable liquid crystal compound on a surface of the liquid crystal alignment layer opposite to the alignment film and aligning the second liquid crystal composition; a liquid crystal layer forming step of polymerizing the aligned second liquid crystal composition to form a liquid crystal layer; and a liquid crystal layer separation step of separating the formed liquid crystal layer from the liquid crystal alignment layer, in which the liquid crystal layer alignment step to the liquid crystal layer separation step are repeated to repeatedly prepare the liquid crystal layer.

An object is to provide a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal layer in which an alignment film is repeatedly used and a liquid crystal compound in a liquid crystal layer can be sufficiently aligned. The method of manufacturing a liquid crystal layer includes: an alignment film forming step of forming an alignment film on a support; a liquid crystal alignment film alignment step of laminating a first liquid crystal composition including a polymerizable liquid crystal compound on the alignment film and aligning the first liquid crystal composition; a liquid crystal alignment layer forming step of polymerizing the aligned first liquid crystal composition to form a liquid crystal alignment layer; a peeling step of laminating and immobilizing a surface of the liquid crystal alignment layer opposite to the alignment film on an adherend and peeling the liquid crystal alignment layer from the alignment film at an interface between the liquid crystal alignment layer and the alignment film; a liquid crystal layer alignment step of laminating a second liquid crystal composition including a polymerizable liquid crystal compound on a surface of the liquid crystal alignment layer from which the alignment film is peeled off and aligning the second liquid crystal composition; a liquid crystal layer forming step of polymerizing the aligned second liquid crystal composition to form a liquid crystal layer; and a liquid crystal layer separation step of separating the formed liquid crystal layer from the liquid crystal alignment layer, in which the liquid crystal layer alignment step to the liquid crystal layer separation step are repeated to repeatedly prepare the liquid crystal layer.

The present invention relates to a photoalignment composition for the alignment of liquid crystals and the stabilization of the pre-tilt angle in liquid crystal layers. Further the present invention relates to the liquid crystal alignment film and coating layer prepared from the said composition and the use to fabricate optical and electrooptical elements and devices.

Provided are an optical element that can make the brightness of light emitted from a light guide plate uniform, a light guide element, and an image display device. The optical element includes a patterned cholesteric liquid crystal layer that is obtained by immobilizing a cholesteric liquid crystalline phase, in which the patterned cholesteric liquid crystal layer has a liquid crystal alignment pattern in which a direction of an optical axis derived from a liquid crystal compound changes while continuously rotating in at least one in-plane direction, and the patterned cholesteric liquid crystal layer has regions having different pitches of helical structures in a plane.