Provided are an optical film, a circularly polarizing plate, and an image display apparatus in each of which the occurrence of cracks is suppressed in the obtained film in a case of being punched. The optical film includes a stretched resin film and a liquid crystal layer formed by fixing a liquid crystal compound twist-aligned along a helical axis extending along a direction in thickness, in which a δa value calculated using a three-dimensional solubility parameter of a resin in the stretched resin film is 8.0 MPa.sup.1/2 or less, the liquid crystal layer contains a cured substance of a polyfunctional compound having two or more polymerizable groups in one molecule, and an absolute value of a difference between the δa value calculated using the three-dimensional solubility parameter of the polyfunctional compound and the δa value calculated using the three-dimensional solubility parameter of the resin is 4.0 MPa.sup.1/2 or less.

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.

Provided are an optical film, a circularly polarizing plate, and an image display apparatus in each of which the occurrence of cracks is suppressed in the obtained film in a case of being punched. The optical film includes a stretched resin film and a liquid crystal layer formed by fixing a liquid crystal compound twist-aligned along a helical axis extending along a direction in thickness, in which a δa value calculated using a three-dimensional solubility parameter of a resin in the stretched resin film is 8.0 MPa.sup.1/2 or less, the liquid crystal layer contains a cured substance of a polyfunctional compound having two or more polymerizable groups in one molecule, and an absolute value of a difference between the δa value calculated using the three-dimensional solubility parameter of the polyfunctional compound and the δa value calculated using the three-dimensional solubility parameter of the resin is 4.0 MPa.sup.1/2 or less.

A multilayer film and a preparation method thereof is provided, and belongs to the technical field of optical films. The provided multilayer film comprises an ultraviolet blocking material and a cholesteric liquid crystal layer. The cholesteric liquid crystal layer comprises a polymerizable liquid crystal monomer, a polymerizable chiral dopant and a photoinitiator. The multilayer film can filter ultraviolet rays and near infrared rays in natural light, thereby reducing the heat effect of the natural light and harms of the ultraviolet rays to people and objects. In addition, the multilayer film has a high visible light transmission rate, which does not distort the color of the natural light passing through.

The present invention relates to a cholesteric liquid crystalline (LC) medium for a Polymer-Network Liquid Crystalline (PNLC) light modulation element, to a method of its production and to the use of such cholesteric LC media in PNLC light modulation elements. Furthermore, the present invention relates to PNLC light modulation elements, as such, to a method of their production, to the use of such light modulation elements in optic or electro optic devices, in particular in LC displays, and to optic or electro optic devices comprising such light modulation elements according to the present invention.

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 secondo 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.

A compound includes, in a molecule, a structure A represented by the following A and a structure B represented by the following B, in which the compound includes two or more of the structures B in the molecule. A: A structure in which at least one or more aromatic ring structures are included and a total number of π electrons of the aromatic ring structure in the molecule is 8 or more. However, an aryl amine structure represented by a predetermined structure is excluded. B: A fluorine-containing terminal structure represented by a predetermined structural formula.

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.

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

##STR00001##

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.