171 results about "Discotic liquid crystal" patented technology

A new photopolymerizable material allows single-step, fast recording of volume holograms with properties that can be electrically controlled. Polymer-dispersed liquid crystals (PDLCs) in accordance with the invention preferably comprise a homogeneous mixture of a nematic liquid crystal and a multifunctional pentaacrylate monomer in combination with photoinitiator, coinitiator and cross-linking agent. Optionally, a surfactant such as octancic acid may also be added. The PDLC material is exposed to coherent light to produce an interference pattern inside the material. Photopolymerization of the new PDLC material produces a hologram of clearly separated liquid crystal domains and cured polymer domains. Volume transmission gratings made with the new PDLC material can be electrically switched between nearly 100% diffraction efficiency and nearly 0% diffraction efficiency. By increasing the frequency of the switching voltage, switching voltages in the range of 50 Vrms can be achieved. The optional use of a surfactant allows low switching voltages at lower frequencies than without a surfactant. In an alternative embodiment, a PDLC material in accordance with the invention can be utilized to form reflection gratings, including switchable reflection gratings. In still further embodiments, a PDLC material in accordance with the invention can be used to form switchable subwavelength gratings. By further processing, static transmission, reflection, and subwavelength PDLC materials can be formed. In addition, PDLC materials in accordance with the present invention can be used to form switchable slanted transmission gratings suitable for switchable optical coupling and reconfigurable optical interconnects.

The present invention provides a laminated retardation optical element that never lowers contrast and thus never degrades display performance even when placed between a liquid crystal cell and a lambda / 4 retardation film. In a liquid crystal display 90, a laminated retardation optical element 10 is placed between a polarizer 102A on the incident side and a liquid crystal cell 104, and a lambda / 4 retardation film 102C is placed between a polarizer 102B on the emergent side and the liquid crystal cell 104. The laminated retardation optical element 10 comprises: a lambda / 4 retardation layer 14 having the function of bringing, to light that passes through this retardation layer, a phase difference corresponding to a quarter of the wavelength of the light; and a C plate-type retardation layer 16 that acts as a negative C plate. The lambda / 4 retardation layer 14 and the C plate-type retardation layer 16 are laminated to a transparent substrate 12 in the order mentioned, and are optically bonded to each other. The lambda / 4 retardation layer 14 comprises as its main component a horizontally-aligned, cross-linked nematic liquid crystal, while the C plate-type retardation layer 16 comprises as its main component a cross-linked chiral nematic liquid crystal (a cross-linked nematic liquid crystal and a cross-linked chiral agent) or cross-linked discotic liquid crystal.

An optical element is arranged in such a manner that a screen thereof can be hardly observed from a predetermined direction, and a deterioration of an image quality caused by moire does not occur. The optical element is constituted by a first polarizing layer, a second polarizing layer, and a liquid crystal layer arranged between these two polarizing layers. In the optical element, absorption axes of the first polarizing layer and the second polarizing layer are located parallel to each other; the liquid crystal layer is made of hybrid-aligned discotic liquid crystal; and an alignment axis of the liquid crystal layer is located parallel to, or perpendicular to both absorption axes of the first polarizing layer and of the second polarizing layer.

As a compensator for use in an OCB mode liquid crystal display there is provided a compensating film capable of making color compensation and attaining such a viewing angle expansion as has not been attainable heretofore. A compensating film for a liquid crystal display, constituted by at least one layer of a compensating film to be used in an OCB mode liquid crystal display, the compensating film being formed by a discotic liquid crystalline material having a fixed orientation form of a discotic liquid crystal, the compensating film being disposed between a driving liquid crystal cell and a pair of upper and lower polarizing plates, and the orientation form being a hybrid orientation in which the angle between discotic liquid crystal directors near the upper interface of the film and the film plane and the angle between discotic liquid crystal directors near the lower interface of the film and film plane are different from each other.

A novel optical compensatory sheet is disclosed the sheet comprises a transparent support and an optically anisotropic layer formed of discotic liquid-crystal molecules thereon. The anisotropic layer comprises at least one air interface control agent, thereby having an air interface polarity of at least 1.5-fold relative to that of a layer which does not comprise said air interface control agent. An optical compensatory sheet comprising a transparent support and an optically anisotropic layer formed of discotic liquid-crystal molecules thereon, wherein said anisotropic layer comprises at least one compound denoted by formula (I) is also disclosed

Examples of diffractive devices comprise a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) layer comprising a plurality of chiral structures, wherein each chiral structure comprises a plurality of liquid crystal molecules that extend in a layer depth direction by at least a helical pitch and are successively rotated in a first rotation direction. Arrangements of the liquid crystal molecules of the chiral structures vary periodically in a lateral direction perpendicular to the layer depth direction to provide a diffraction grating. The diffractive devices can be configured to reflect light having a particular wavelength range and sense of circular polarization. The diffractive devices can be used in waveguides and imaging systems in augmented or virtual reality systems.

An optical element is arranged in such a manner that a screen thereof can be hardly observed from a predetermined direction, and a deterioration of an image quality caused by moire does not occur. The optical element is constituted by a first polarizing layer, a second polarizing layer, and a liquid crystal layer arranged between these two polarizing layers. In the optical element, absorption axes of the first polarizing layer and the second polarizing layer are located parallel to each other; the liquid crystal layer is made of hybrid-aligned discotic liquid crystal; and an alignment axis of the liquid crystal layer is located parallel to, or perpendicular to both absorption axes of the first polarizing layer and of the second polarizing layer.

The present invention is intended to attain an electrode structure and a pixel design which are the most suitable for effective utilization of optically isotropic liquid crystals in a device.The present invention uses a structure of liquid crystal display device comprising a first substrate, a second substrate, polarizing plates provided on the first substrate and the second substrate, respectively, a liquid crystal layer located between the first substrate and the second substrate, and pixel electrodes and common electrodes, which are provided on the first substrate, wherein the liquid crystal layer has such a property that optical anisotropy is induced therein by a change of an optically isotropic state caused by application of a voltage; either the pixel electrodes or the common electrodes are formed in an interdigital form and the other is formed in the form of a flat plate; and an electric field is applied to the liquid crystal layer by a potential difference made between the pixel electrodes and the common electrodes.

Electronic nose device having a plurality of sensors composed of nanowires of columnar discotic liquid crystals, the device having low sensitivity to humidity. The device is designed to determine the composition and concentration of volatile organic compounds in a sample with very high sensitivity. Methods for use of the device in applications such as diagnosis of disease and food quality control are disclosed.

Disclosed is an optical film for 3D image display devices, including at least an optically-anisotropic layer formed of a composition that includes, as the main ingredient thereof, a discotic liquid crystal having at least one polymerizable group, wherein the optically-anisotropic layer is a patterned optically-anisotropic layer which includes a first retardation domain and a second retardation domain differing from each other in at least one of the in-plane slow axis direction and retardation in-plane thereof and in which the first and second retardation domains are alternately arranged in plane.

A conductive organic compound device structure suitable for constituting an electronic device, such as an organic EL device, is formed by including a pair of oppositely spaced electrodes, and a carrier transporting layer disposed between the electrodes and in contact with one of the electrodes. The carrier transporting layer comprises a conductive organic compound having a π-electron resonance structure in its molecule. In the device, the π-electron resonance structure plane of the conductive organic compound in the carrier transporting layer is aligned substantially parallel to surfaces of the electrodes. The conductive organic compound is preferably a conductive liquid crystal, such as a discotic liquid crystal or a smectic liquid crystal, and a layer thereof is included in the device, preferably by vacuum deposition.

An optical compensatory sheet comprises a transparent support and an optically anisotropic layer. The optically anisotropic layer is made from discotic liquid crystal molecules. The transparent support is made of a polymer film. The polymer film has an Re retardation value in the range of 10 to 70 nm. The polymer film also has an Rth retardation value in the range of 70 to 400 nm. The polymer film further has a standard deviation of angle of slow axis of 1.5° or less.

A pressure-sensitive adhesive optical film of the present invention comprises: an optical film comprising a transparent base film and a discotic liquid crystal layer on one side of the transparent base film; and a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer that is provided on the discotic liquid crystal layer, wherein the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is made from a pressure-sensitive adhesive containing an acrylic polymer comprising an alkyl(meth)acrylate (a1) and a ring structure-containing (meth)acrylate (a2) as monomer units and having a weight average molecular weight of 1,000,000 to 3,000,000, and a crosslinking agent. The pressure-sensitive adhesive optical film has durability and can be prevented from causing display unevenness in a peripheral portion of a display screen.

An optical compensatory sheet comprises a cellulose acetate support and an optically anisotropic layer. The optically anisotropic layer contains a discotic liquid crystal molecule. The cellulose acetate support has a Bth<550 >birefringence in the range of 0.0007 to 0.004.

A liquid crystal device showing performances, such as good viewing angle characteristic, high contrast, high-speed responsiveness, high resolution and high productivity is given by forming a layer of discotic liquid crystal placed in an edge-on and uniaxial alignment state. In the liquid crystal layer, the discotic liquid crystal may preferably assume a nematic discotic layer and co-present with a rod-shaped liquid crystal in mutually separated phases.

An optical compensatory sheet comprises a transparent substrate and an optically anisotropic layer. The optically anisotropic layer comprises discotic liquid crystal molecules. The discotic liquid crystal molecules are oriented in essentially mono domain alignment at an average inclined angle in the range of 50° to 90°. A liquid crystal display of an STN mode having the optical compensatory sheet is also disclosed.

A novel optical compensatory sheet is disclosed the sheet comprises a transparent support and an optically anisotropic layer formed of discotic liquid-crystal molecules thereon. The anisotropic layer comprises at least one air interface control agent, thereby having an air interface polarity of at least 1.5-fold relative to that of a layer which does not comprise said air interface control agent. An optical compensatory sheet comprising a transparent support and an optically anisotropic layer formed of discotic liquid-crystal molecules thereon, wherein said anisotropic layer comprises at least one compound denoted by formula (I) is also disclosed.

The invention provides a liquid crystal display having high reliability, which is excellent in terms of optical characteristics, heat resistance, and shock resistance, wherein a liquid crystal display consisting of a cholesteric liquid crystal, a chiral nematic liquid crystal or a liquid crystal 1 layer, being a combination thereof, which is roughly pillar-like and polygonal in section or has a roughly pillar-like form enclosed by a closed curve, and divided by said polymer network into areas whose minimum diameter measured by vernier calipers is 5 mum and whose maximum diameter measured by vernier calipers is 100 mum, is obtained by polymer networks 4 formed by polymerization of monomer, so that sufficient reflection can be obtained from the liquid crystal 1 without being optical scattering. Although the perpendicular array of the helical axes of liquid crystal 1 is slightly disordered by a polymer network 4 with respect to the plane of a pair of ITO 2a, 2b and substrates 3a,3b, wherein since almost all light entering from the substrata 3a side is reflected backwards (substrate 3a side) by Bragg's reflection, it is possible to decrease the visual angle dependency in comparison with a prior art liquid crystal display not containing any polymer constituents, and networks 4 which have been greatly established form intensive pillars (macromolcular resin walls), thereby improving the shock resistance properties.

The present invention provides a member for projection image display, including a reflection layer and a retardation layer, wherein the reflection layer includes a cholesteric liquid crystal layer exhibiting selective reflection in a visible light region, the cholesteric liquid crystal layer is a layer formed from a liquid crystal composition containing a discotic liquid crystal compound, and a front phase difference of the retardation layer is in a range of 50 nm to 400 nm; and a projection image display system which includes the above member for projection image display, wherein the retardation layer is disposed on an incident light side relative to the reflection layer, and the incident light is p-polarized light that vibrates in a direction parallel to a plane of incidence, which is capable of displaying a clear image having high reflectance and high transmittance, without a problem of a double image.

To provide a liquid crystal display device capable of generating the transition of a liquid crystal layer from a splay alignment state to a bend alignment state quickly and stably without applying a high driving voltage.The liquid crystal display device is provided with a liquid crystal panel 2 having: a pair of substrates 3, 4 , which are arranged oppositely to each other and in which electrodes 19, 25 and alignment layers 21, 26 are formed on respective counter surfaces thereof; an OCB mode liquid crystal layer 5 in which a nematic liquid crystal sealed in between the pair of substrates 3, 4 is splay aligned with the alignment layers 21, 26 and the splay aligned nematic liquid crystal is subjected to the transition to the bend aligned state with the driving voltage applied between the electrodes 19, 25; and spacers 6 arranged inside the liquid crystal layer 5 and retaining a gap between the pair of mutually opposing substrates 3, 4 uniform. The spacers 6 are subjected to a surface treatment for accelerating the transition of the liquid crystal layer 5 from the splay aligned state to the bend aligned state.

Due to the present invention, a reflection member including two or more layers of fixed cholesteric liquid crystal phases, in which the two or more layers of fixed cholesteric liquid crystal phases exhibit central wavelengths of mutually different selective reflection, and the two or more layers of fixed cholesteric liquid crystal phases include a layer formed of a composition including a disc-like liquid crystal compound and a layer formed of a composition including a rod-like liquid crystal compound and a projected image display member and a heat shield member which include the reflection member are provided. The reflection member of the present invention has favorable selective reflection characteristics with respect to oblique incidence rays.

A pressure-sensitive adhesive optical film of the present invention comprises: an optical film comprising a transparent base film and a discotic liquid crystal layer provided on one side of the transparent base film; an undercoat layer; and a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer provided on the discotic liquid crystal layer with the undercoat layer interposed therebetween, the undercoat layer comprises a polymer and an antioxidant; and the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer comprises a (meth)acrylic polymer (A) comprising 80 to 99.5% by weight of an alkyl (meth)acrylate monomer unit and 0.05 to 3% by weight of a hydroxyl group-containing monomer unit and having a weight average molecular weight of 1,000,000 to 2,500,000; ; a (meth)acrylic oligomer (B) comprising 80 to 99.9% by weight of an alkyl (meth)acrylate monomer unit and 0.1 to 3% by weight of a carboxyl group-containing monomer unit and having a weight average molecular weight of 3,000 to 8,000; a crosslinking agent (C); and a silane coupling agent (D), and the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer comprises 10 to 40 parts by weight of the (meth)acrylic oligomer (B) based on 100 parts by weight of the (meth)acrylic polymer (A). The pressure-sensitive adhesive optical film has durability and can suppress display unevenness in a peripheral portion of a display screen and window frame unevenness in a state that a backlight is on.

The embodiment of the invention provides a reflecting polaroid, a method for producing the same and a liquid crystal display device, which relate to the technical field of liquid crystal display, and the reflecting Polaroid which has both optical compensation performance and broadband reflection performance can be produced. The reflecting polaroid comprises a first substrate, a first alignment layer which is arranged on the first substrate, a chiral coating which is formed on the first alignment layer, a second substrate which is arranged with the first substrate in a box manner and is provided with a second alignment layer, and cholesteric liquid crystals which are filled in a clearance, wherein the chiral coating is formed by coating chiral discotic liquid crystal solution onto the first alignment layer; spacers are arranged between the chiral coating and the second alignment layer for forming the clearance; and the cholesteric liquid crystals are produced by mixing at least nematic liquid crystals, photopolymerization nematic liquid crystal monomers, chiral compound, photoinitiator and thermal polymerization inhibitor.

Novel discotic liquid crystalline porphyrins and discotic liquid crystalline metal complexes, methods for their preparation, and device fabrication are disclosed. Materials with partially perfluorinated alkyl group in the peripheral chains show a strong tendency towards the formation of homeotropic alignment. These compounds are capable of being used as high-efficiency photovoltaic materials, organic semiconducting materials, and organic light emitting materials.

A layer of discotic liquid crystal having a molecular structure including a disk-shaped core and plural side chains connected to the core is disposed in contact with a substrate boundary provided with a homeotropic alignment power for aligning the side chains of the discotic liquid crystal molecules vertically to the boundary, whereby a uniform columnar structure vertical to the substrate of the discotic liquid crystal is formed. As a result, a discotic liquid crystal device having a stable homeotropic monodomain alignment can be formed from a wide scope of discotic liquid crystal materials.

A pressure-sensitive adhesive optical film of the present invention comprises: an optical film comprising a transparent base film and a discotic liquid crystal layer provided on one side of the transparent base film; an undercoat layer; and a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer provided on the discotic liquid crystal layer with the undercoat layer interposed therebetween, the undercoat layer comprises a polymer and an antioxidant; and the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer comprises a (meth)acrylic polymer (A) comprising 80 to 99.5% by weight of an alkyl (meth)acrylate monomer unit and 0.05 to 3% by weight of a hydroxyl group-containing monomer unit and having a weight average molecular weight of 1,000,000 to 2,500,000; a (meth)acrylic oligomer (B) comprising 80 to 99.9% by weight of an alkyl (meth)acrylate monomer unit and 0.1 to 3% by weight of a carboxyl group-containing monomer unit and having a weight average molecular weight of 3,000 to 8,000; a crosslinking agent (C); and a silane coupling agent (D), and the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer comprises 10 to 40 parts by weight of the (meth)acrylic oligomer (B) based on 100 parts by weight of the (meth)acrylic polymer (A). The pressure-sensitive adhesive optical film has durability and can suppress display unevenness in a peripheral portion of a display screen and window frame unevenness in a state that a backlight is on.

There is provided a composition containing a discotic liquid crystal compound, a chiral agent, and a surfactant which can form a light reflecting layer formed by fixing a cholesteric liquid crystalline phase, which exhibits excellent durability under a hot and humid environment and excellent heat resistance, and has few alignment defects; a light reflecting film; a luminance-improving film; a backlight unit; and a liquid crystal display device.

The invention belongs to the technical field of organic synthesis and relates to a pyrene asymmetrical double-shaft discotic liquid crystal compound and a preparation method thereof. The compound has a typical columnar hexagonal-phase discotic liquid crystal structure. The preparation method of the compound comprises the following steps of: carrying out a friedel-crafts acylation reaction on pyrene; carrying out a bromination reaction on an intermediate product; carrying out a Sonogashira coupling reaction; carrying out reaction for removing trimethyl silicon; and carrying out reaction for connecting bromination chains. The pyrene asymmetrical double-shaft discotic liquid crystal compound has biaxial orientation, i.e. a disk is used as a shaft, and an asymmetrical rod molecular chain is used as a shaft. Compared with the prior art, the invention has the advantages that the discotic liquid crystal compound with an asymmetrical structure is easier to form biaxial nematic discotic liquid crystal which has quicker refresh rate and low energy consumption, and has strong fluorescence and wide application prospect.

The present invention provides a laminated retardation optical element that never lowers contrast and thus never degrades display performance even when placed between a liquid crystal cell and a λ / 4 retardation film. In a liquid crystal display 90, a laminated retardation optical element 10 is placed between a polarizer 102A on the incident side and a liquid crystal cell 104, and a λ / 4 retardation film 102C is placed between a polarizer 102B on the emergent side and the liquid crystal cell 104. The laminated retardation optical element 10 comprises: a λ / 4 retardation layer 14 having the function of bringing, to light that passes through this retardation layer, a phase difference corresponding to a quarter of the wavelength of the light; and a C plate-type retardation layer 16 that acts as a negative C plate. The λ / 4 retardation layer 14 and the C plate-type retardation layer 16 are laminated to a transparent substrate 12 in the order mentioned, and are optically bonded to each other. The λ / 4 retardation layer 14 comprises as its main component a horizontally-aligned, cross-linked nematic liquid crystal, while the C plate-type retardation layer 16 comprises as its main component a cross-linked chiral nematic liquid crystal (a cross-linked nematic liquid crystal and a cross-linked chiral agent) or cross-linked discotic liquid crystal.