Optical compensatory sheet having optically anistropic layer formed from liquid crystal molecules
AssigneeFUJIFILM Corporation
InventorsYoji Ito, Ken Kawata
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The optical compensatory sheet has a transparent support and an optically anisotropic layer formed from liquid crystal molecules aligned in an average inclined angle of less than 5°. The optical compensatory sheet gives the retardation value in plane (Re) in the range of 10 to 1,000 nm and the retardation value along the thickness direction (Rth) in the range of 10 to 1,000 nm.
Claims11
An optical compensatory sheet having a transparent support, an optically anisotropic layer formed from liquid crystal molecules aligned in an average inclined angle of less than 5°, wherein the liquid crystal molecules are rod-like liquid crystal molecules,
- wherein alignment of the rod-like liquid crystal molecules is fixed,
- wherein the optical compensatory sheet has a retardation value in plane defined by the following formula in the range of 10 to 1,000 nm, and a retardation value along the thickness direction defined by the following formula in the range of 10 to 1,000 nm:
- Re=(nx−ny)xd
- Rth=[{(nx+ny)/2}−nz]xd
- in which Re is the retardation value in plane;
- Rth is the retardation value along the thickness direction;
- each of nx and ny is a refractive index in the plane of the optical compensatory sheet;
- nz is a refractive index along the thickness direction of the optical compensatory sheet;
- and
- d is the thickness of the optical compensatory sheet.
An elliptically polarizing plate comprising a transparent protective film, a polarizing membrane, and an optical compensatory sheet having a transparent support and an optically anisotropic layer formed from liquid crystal molecules aligned in an average inclined angle of less than 5°, wherein the liquid crystal molecules are rod-like liquid crystal molecules, wherein alignment of the rod-like liquid crystal molecules is fixed, and wherein the optical compensatory sheet has the retardation value in plane defined by the following formula in the range of 10 to 1,000 nm, and the retardation value along the thickness direction defined by the following formula in the range of 10 to 1,000 nm:
- Re=(nx−ny)xd
- Rth={[(nx+ny)/2}−nz]xd
- in which Re is the retardation value in plane;
- Rth is the retardation value along the thickness direction;
- each of nx and ny is a refractive index in the plane of the optical compensatory sheet;
- nz is a refractive index along the thickness direction of the optical compensatory sheet;
- and
- d is the thickness of the optical compensatory sheet.
A liquid crystal display comprising a liquid crystal cell of VA mode and two polarizing elements placed on both sides of the cell, wherein at least one of the polarizing elements comprises a transparent protective film, a polarizing membrane, and optical compensatory sheet having a transparent support and an optically anisotropic layer formed from liquid crystal molecules aligned in an average inclined angle of less than 5°, wherein the liquid crystal molecules are rod-like liquid crystal molecules, and wherein alignment of the rod-like liquid crystal molecules is fixed, said optical compensatory sheet having the retardation value in plane defined by the following formula in the range of 10 to 1,000 nm, and the retardation value along the thickness direction defined by the following formula in the range of 10 to 1,000 nm:
- Re=(nx−ny)xd
- Rth=[{(nx+ny)/2}−nz]xd
- in which Re is the retardation value in plane;
- Rth is the retardation value along the thickness direction;
- each of nx and ny is a refractive index in the plane of the optical compensatory sheet;
- nz is a refractive index along the thickness direction of the optical compensatory sheet;
- and
- d is the thickness of the optical compensatory sheet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.