Provided is a liquid crystal aligning agent composition including a urea-based compound that contains two or more urea functional groups and has a structure in which a hydroxyalkyl group is substituted for a terminal amino group of a urea functional group, together with polyimide and its precursor polymer.

A liquid crystal display capable of reducing the occurrence of defective display due to variations in the initial alignment direction of a liquid crystal alignment control film in a liquid crystal display of an IPS scheme, realizing the stable liquid crystal alignment, providing excellent mass productivity, and having high image quality with a higher contrast ratio. The liquid crystal display has a liquid crystal layer disposed between a pair of substrates, at least one of the substrates being transparent, and an alignment control film formed between the liquid crystal layer and the substrate. At least one of the alignment control films 109 comprises photoreactive polyimide and/or polyamic acid provided with an alignment control ability by irradiation of substantially linearly polarized light.

An object of the present invention is to provide an optical laminate in which optically anisotropic layers exhibiting reverse wavelength dispersibility have excellent moisture-heat resistance, and the adhesiveness between a first optically anisotropic layer and a second optically anisotropic layer is excellent; and a polarizing plate and an image display device, each using the optical laminate. The optical laminate according to an embodiment of the present invention is an optical laminate having a first optically anisotropic layer and a second optically anisotropic layer, in which both of the first optically anisotropic layer and the second optically anisotropic layer are directly laminated and consist of a liquid crystal layer, at least one of the first optically anisotropic layer or the second optically anisotropic layer exhibits reverse wavelength dispersibility, a photo-alignment polymer having a photo-alignment group and a fluorine atom or a silicon atom is present on a surface of the second optically anisotropic layer on a side in contact with the first optically anisotropic layer, and an element ratio of fluorine or silicon on the surface of the second optically anisotropic layer on the side in contact with the first optically anisotropic layer is 0.05% to 15.00% by atom.

An alignment film is given a 2-layer structure comprising a photoalignment film that is photoalignable and a low-resistivity alignment film whose resistivity is smaller than that of the photoalignment film. The photoalignment film is formed by a polyimide whose precursor is polyamide acid alkyl ester, the number molecular weight of the photoalignment film is large, and the stability of alignment of the photoalignment film by photoalignment is excellent. The low-resistivity alignment film is formed by a polyimide whose precursor is polyamide acid, the number molecular weight of the low-resistivity alignment film is small, and the resistivity of the low-resistivity alignment film is small. The 2-layer structure alignment film can be maintaining an excellent photoalignment characteristic, so DC afterimages can be controlled.

A liquid crystal aligning agent composition for preparing a liquid crystal alignment film having enhanced stability and exhibiting excellent electrical characteristics, a method for preparing a liquid crystal alignment film using the same, and a liquid crystal alignment film and a liquid crystal display device using the liquid crystal alignment film.

The present invention relates to a liquid crystal alignment composition for the preparation of a liquid crystal alignment film having enhanced alignment property and stability and exhibiting a high voltage holding ratio, a method for preparing a liquid crystal alignment film using the same, and a liquid crystal alignment film and a liquid crystal display device using the same.

A photo-alignment polymer has a repeating unit represented by Formula (1), in Formula (1), R.sup.1 represents a hydrogen atom or a substituent, X represents —O—, —S—, or —NR.sup.2—, in which R.sup.2 represents a hydrogen atom or a substituent, L.sup.1 represents a single bond or a divalent linking group, P represents a photo-aligned group, and A represents an acid-cleavage group which is decomposed by an action of acid to produce a polar group

##STR00001##

An alignment layer composition including a copolymer of a dianhydride compound and a diamine compound, the copolymer including a repeating unit represented by chemical formula (1); and a repeating unit represented by chemical formula (2):

##STR00001##

wherein R.sub.1 is a tetravalent organic group derived from an alicyclic dianhydride or an aromatic dianhydride, and wherein R.sub.1 includes a phenyl ester group.

An alignment film for liquid crystal display device includes a first portion positioned towards to the liquid crystal layer and a second portion positioned away from the liquid crystal layer. The first portion provides improved anchoring force while the second portion exhibits a lower volume resistance than the first portion. Thus, AC image sticking and DC image sticking can be minimized at the same time.

A liquid crystal aligning agent composition for forming a liquid crystal alignment film that can exhibit excellent alignment and electrical characteristics and simultaneously having enhanced durability, a method for preparing a liquid crystal alignment film using the liquid crystal aligning agent composition, and a liquid crystal alignment film comprising an aligned and cured product of the liquid crystal aligning agent composition and a liquid crystal display device comprising the liquid crystal alignment film.