Disclosed are an optical laminate and an optical display apparatus including the same. The optical laminate includes: a polarizer; and a retardation layer stacked on a light incidence surface of the polarizer, wherein the retardation layer includes a positive C layer, the positive C layer having an in-plane retardation of 0 nm to 30 nm and an out-of-plane retardation of −50 nm to −15 nm at a wavelength of 550 nm, and the in-plane retardation of the positive C layer at a wavelength of 550 nm and an absolute value of a tilted angle of a slow axis of the positive C layer with respect to a light absorption axis of the polarizer satisfy Relation 1.

Provided is an optically anisotropic layer with which an image display device having suppressed occurrence of oblique light leakage can be manufactured; and an optical film, a polarizing plate, and an image display device, each having the optically anisotropic layer. The optically anisotropic layer is obtained by curing a polymerizable liquid crystal composition including a predetermined rod-like liquid crystal compound and a predetermined monofunctional compound, and immobilizing an alignment state of the rod-like liquid crystal compound, in which a number a1 of atoms of the rod-like liquid crystal compound and a number a2 of atoms of the monofunctional compound satisfy a relationship of Expression (1): 0.2<a2/a1≤0.68, and the rod-like liquid crystal compound is immobilized in a state of being vertically aligned with respect to the main surface of the optically anisotropic layer.

An electrically controlled birefringence liquid crystal display device performs a normally black display. The display device includes a liquid crystal display panel including a liquid crystal layer and a reflective portion to reflect light that is incident through a display surface of the liquid crystal display panel and that passes through the liquid crystal layer, a first polarizing plate on the display surface, and a half-wavelength plate between the liquid crystal display panel and the first polarizing plate. A phase difference Δnd−1 of the liquid crystal layer is less than a half of a phase difference Δnd−2 of the half-wavelength plate. The phase difference Δnd−2 of the half-wavelength plate indicates a positively dispersive wavelength, and a low axis of the half-wavelength plate intersects with an orientation axis of liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer under no electric field being applied. The liquid crystal layer has a birefringence index Δn indicating a positively dispersive wavelength.

An optical element includes a linear polarizer layer and a transparent optical layer. The linear polarizer layer includes surfaces waviness and the transparent optical layer smooths the surfaces waves of the linear polarizer layer.

Provided is a semiconductor laser device including a plurality of semiconductor laser units LDC that are capable of being independently driven, and a spatial light modulator SLM that is optically coupled to a group of the plurality of semiconductor laser units LDC. Each of the semiconductor laser units includes a pair of clad layers having an active layer 4 interposed therebetween, and a diffractive lattice layer 6 that is optically coupled to the active layer 4. The semiconductor laser device includes a ¼ wavelength plate 26 that is disposed between a group of the active layers 4 of the plurality of semiconductor laser units LDC and a reflection film 23, and a polarizing plate 27 that is disposed between the group of the active layers 4 of the plurality of semiconductor laser units LDC and a light emitting surface.

Devices and systems to perform optical alignment by using one or more liquid crystal layers to actively steer a light beam from an optical fiber to an optical waveguide integrated on a chip. An on-chip feedback mechanism can steer the beam between the fiber and a grating based waveguide to minimize the insertion loss of the system.

An optical apparatus is configured to introduce light from an object to an image pickup element, and includes first, second, and third retardation plates, a polarizer, and a setter. The first retardation plate, the second retardation plate, and the polarizer are arranged in this order from a side of the object to a side of the image pickup element. The slow axis direction or the fast axis direction of the second retardation plate tilts to the slow axis direction or the fast axis direction of the first retardation plate. The setter sets the retardation of the second retardation plate according to the polarization component of the light from the object.

Provided is a phase difference film formed of a resin containing a polymer having crystallizability. The phase difference film has an NZ factor of less than 1 and an in-plane retardation Re that satisfies 125 nm≤Re≤345 nm. The polymer has a crystallization degree of 15% or more. Alternatively, the polymer is an alicyclic structure-containing polymer being a hydrogenated product of a ring-opening polymer of dicyclopentadiene.

Regioselectively substituted cellulose esters having a plurality of pivaloyl substituents and a plurality of aryl-acyl substituents are disclosed along with methods for making the same. Such cellulose esters may be suitable for use in films, such as +A optical films, and/or +C optical films. Optical films prepared employing such cellulose esters have a variety of commercial applications, such as, for example, as compensation films in liquid crystal displays and/or waveplates in creating circular polarized light used in 3-D technology.

A head-mounted apparatus include an eyepiece that include a variable dimming assembly and a frame mounting the eyepiece so that a user side of the eyepiece faces a towards a user and a world side of the eyepiece opposite the first side faces away from the user. The dynamic dimming assembly selectively modulates an intensity of light transmitted parallel to an optical axis from the world side to the user side during operation. The dynamic dimming assembly includes a variable birefringence cell having multiple pixels each having an independently variable birefringence, a first linear polarizer arranged on the user side of the variable birefringence cell, the first linear polarizer being configured to transmit light propagating parallel to the optical axis linearly polarized along a pass axis of the first linear polarizer orthogonal to the optical axis, a quarter wave plate arranged between the variable birefringence cell and the first linear polarizer, a fast axis of the quarter wave plate being arranged relative to the pass axis of the first linear polarizer to transform linearly polarized light transmitted by the first linear polarizer into circularly polarized light, and a second linear polarizer on the world side of the variable birefringence cell.