Liquid crystal display device

A liquid crystal display device comprising:

• a polarization layer for transmitting therethrough only a linearly polarized component of incident light, which is polarized in a predetermined direction;
• a reflective layer for reflecting light;
• a single phase retardation layer disposed between the polarization layer and the reflective layer;
• and
• a super-twisted nematic liquid crystal layer disposed between the polarization layer and the reflective layer,
• wherein retardation value ReF of the phase retardation layer is selected to be approximately equal to a (1/4+K/2)th multiple of wavelength λ of the incident light (where K is an integer not smaller than 0);
• product d1×Δn1 of thickness d1 and optical anisotropy Δn1 of the liquid crystal layer is selected to be approximately equal to a (1/2+L/2)th multiple of the wavelength λ of the incident light (where L is an integer not smaller than 0);
• and
• crossing angle Δφ between an absorption axis of the polarization layer and a retardation axis of the phase retardation layer is selected to be larger than 0° and smaller than 45°, or larger than 45° and smaller than 90° to deviate from 45° by a small amount to provide an improved contrast.