Abstract: A polarizing plate with an optical compensation layer is provided, which has an excellent peelability and is easy to reattach after mounted on an image display apparatus. A pressure-sensitive adhesive layer satisfying the condition (I) below is formed on both surfaces of an optical compensation layer, and one of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layers is further laminated with a polarizing plate.

Abstract: As a polarizing plate with optical compensation function, that is thin and excellent in optical characteristics, the present invention provides a polarizing plate with optical compensation function including at least two optically compensating layers. The optically compensating layers includes: an optically compensating A-layer formed of a polymer film, satisfying conditions represented by formulae (I) and (II) below; and an optically compensating B-layer formed of a non-liquid crystalline polymer film, satisfying conditions represented by formulae (III) to (V) below. 20 (nm)?Rea?300 (nm)??(I) 1.0?Rza/Rea?8??(II) 1 (nm)?Reb?100 (nm)??(III) 5?Rzb/Reb?100??(IV) 1 (?m)?db?20 (?m)??(V) The present invention also provides a liquid crystal display using the polarizing plate.

Abstract: The invention provides a polarizing film comprising: a long polymer film; and a dichroic substance, wherein the polarizing film has an absorption axis in the TD direction of the polarizing film.

Abstract: An optical film whose retardation distribution is uniform, whose rainbow-like irregularity is suppressed, whose color is transparent and whose optical characteristics are extremely good is provided. A birefringent material containing a non-liquid crystal polymer is dissolved in methyl isobutyl ketone so as to prepare a coating solution. This coating solution is applied onto a transparent film, thus forming a coating film. By drying the coating film, an optical film having a birefringent layer formed on the transparent film is obtained. As the non-liquid crystal polymer, it is possible to use polyimide that has a birefringence (?nxyz) in a thickness direction when formed into a film of at least 0.03 and is soluble in methyl isobutyl ketone.

Abstract: An optical film, which includes a laminate of a base and a birefringent layer, and which is excellent in adhesiveness between the base and the birefringent layer, is provided. The birefringent layer is formed on the base by: coating a material of the birefringent layer on the base so as to form a coating film; stretching/shrinking the base so as to stretch/shrink the coating film; and solidifying the material of the coating film. The material is dispersed or dissolved previously in a solvent and coated in a form of solution, where the solvent used exhibits solubility with respect to the base, and in the coating step, the solvent is infiltrated into a part of the interior of the base, thereby obtaining an optical film with excellent adhesiveness between the base and the birefringent layer.

Abstract: The present invention provides a composite birefringent member including a first birefringent layer and a second birefringent layer. The second birefringent layer is formed on at least one surface of the first birefringent layer. In the wavelength range from 400 to 800 nm, a value of ?ndx/?nd550 and a value of Rthx/Rth550 of the composite birefringent member as a whole are different from each other. The composite birefringent member satisfies a requirement that the second birefringent layer is formed of a polymer such as polyamide and/or a requirement that ?nd and Rth of the composite birefringent member satisfy formulae (I) and (II) below. As a result, the composite birefringent member allows a liquid crystal display to achieve a wide viewing angle, compensates birefringence of a liquid crystal cell, and does not cause display coloring of the liquid crystal display.

Abstract: A liquid crystal display apparatus of the present invention includes: a liquid crystal cell including a pair of substrates provided with a color filter on one substrate, and a liquid crystal layer as a display medium provided between the substrates; and an optical compensation element including at least an optical compensation layer. The optical compensation element is arranged on the same side as the color filter with respect to the liquid crystal layer. The substrate provided with the color filter preferably has a haze value of 10% or less. Such a liquid crystal display apparatus allows excellent viewing angle compensation, exhibits exceptional contrast in an oblique direction, and can be reduced in thickness.

Abstract: The present invention provides a birefringent optical film having a high orientation for easily obtaining a desired retardation value and also a small photoelastic coefficient. The birefringent optical film includes at least two kinds of polymer materials. A total of products of Cn and Wn satisfies a numerical formula (1): ?(Cn×Wn)?20×10?8 cm2/N??(1) where Cn and Wn denote respectively a photoelastic coefficient and a volume fraction of each polymer material, and at least one of the polymer materials of the film has a photoelastic coefficient value of at least 60×10?8 cm2/N, while at least one of the remaining polymer materials has a negative value of photoelastic coefficient.

Abstract: The present invention provides a transparent optical film that has excellent optical characteristics for realizing the uniform retardation distribution and restraining rainbow-colored irregularities. The optical film, which is obtained by laminating a birefringent layer (a) on a transparent film (b), satisfies all the following formulae (I), (II) and (III). ?n(a)>?n(b)×10??(I) 1<(nx?nz)/(nx?ny)??(II) 0.0005??n(a)?0.5??(III) In the above formulae (I), (II) and (III), ?n(a) and ?n(b) denote respectively birefringent indexes of the birefringent layer (a) and the transparent film (b). The signs of nx, ny and nz indicate refractive indexes in an X-axis direction, a Y-axis direction and a Z-axis direction in the birefringent layer (a), respectively.

Abstract: An optical film includes a transparent polymer film layer, an adhesive layer formed by coating a polyurethane-based resin solution on the transparent polymer film layer, a birefringent layer formed by coating a non-liquid crystal polymer on the adhesive layer. These layers together form a laminated film that is subjected to a stretching treatment. The thus formed optical film is unlikely to cause separation of the transparent polymer film from the birefringent layer and to cause variation in retardation of the birefringent layer.

Abstract: A retardation-film integrated polarizing plate includes a polarizing plate stretched in a lengthwise direction thereof and having an absorption angle in the lengthwise direction, and a uniaxial retardation film having a slow axis in a widthwise direction thereof and an Nz coefficient of 0.9-1.1, in which the polarizing plate is laminated with the uniaxial retardation film so as to have the slow axis of the retardation film oriented at an angle of 90 degrees plus or minus 5 degrees to the absorption axis of the polarizing plate. The thus arranged polarizing plate is capable of enhancing the front contrast and the contrast at oblique viewing angles.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing a birefringent film includes stretching a polymer film in a widthwise direction while at the same time shrinking the same in a lengthwise direction so as to satisfy the relational expression: (1/STD)1/2?SMD<1, in which the length in the widthwise direction and the length in the lengthwise direction, of the polymer film before being stretched are respectively designated as 1, and STD represents a change ratio of the length in the widthwise direction of the polymer film due to stretching and SMD represents a change ratio of the length in the lengthwise direction of the polymer film due to shrinking, and make the stretched polymer film have an Nz coefficient of 0.9-1.1.

Abstract: The present invention provides a birefringent optical film that allows a liquid crystal display to achieve excellent contrast and a wide viewing angle and does not cause coloring of the liquid crystal display. The birefringent optical film includes at least one birefringent A-layer having a property satisfying nya?nza>nxa or nza>nya>nza and at least one birefringent B-layer having a property satisfying nxb?nyb>nzb.

Abstract: A laminated quarter-wave plate having: a laminate of a quarter-wave plate and a half-wave plate, wherein: the quarter-wave plate and the half-wave plate are laminated on each other so that directions of in-plane slow axes intersect each other; and each of the quarter-wave plate and the half-wave plate satisfies a relation Nz=(nx?nz)/(nx?ny)>1.05 in which nx and ny are in-plane main refractive indices, and nz is a thicknesswise refractive index; and a circularly polarizing plate having: a laminate of a laminated quarter-wave plate defined above and a polarizer.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an optical film that is excellent in optical properties and can be produced at low cost. In the optical film formed by laminating a transparent polymer film layer and a birefringent layer of a non-liquid crystalline polymer, the birefringent layer satisfies a condition represented by nx?ny>nz and the in-plane retardation of the transparent polymer film layer is 50 nm or less. In the above formula, nx, ny and nz are the refraction indices in the X-, Y- and Z-axes directions of the birefringent layer, respectively. The X-axis direction is the axial direction in which the refraction index shows a maximum value in the in-plane direction of the birefringent layer, the Y-axis direction is the axial direction perpendicular to the X-axis direction in the plane, and the Z-axis direction is the thickness direction perpendicular to the X- and Y-axes directions.

Abstract: An optical film including a transparent polymer film (b) and a birefringent layer (a) formed of a polymer and laminated above the transparent polymer film (b) is provided. The birefringent layer (a) and the transparent polymer film (b) satisfy the following formula (1), the birefringent layer (a) satisfies the following formulae (2) and (3), and the polymer forming the birefringent layer (a) has a weight-average molecular weight in the range between 10,000 and 400,000 inclusive. ?n(a)>?n(b)×10??(1) 1<(nx?nz)/(nx?ny)??(2) 0.0005??n(a)?0.5??(3) This optical film can prevent the occurrence of iridescence, the occurrence of cracks, and the occurrence of variation in retardation.

Abstract: As a polarizing plate with optical compensation function, that is thin and excellent in optical characteristics, the present invention provides a polarizing plate with optical compensation function including at least two optically compensating layers. The optically compensating layers includes: an optically compensating A-layer formed of a polymer film, satisfying conditions represented by formulae (I) and (II) below; and an optically compensating B-layer formed of a non-liquid crystalline polymer film, satisfying conditions represented by formulae (III) to (V) below. 20 (nm)?Rea?300 (nm)??(I) 1.0?Rza/Rea?8??(II) 1 (nm)?Reb?100 (nm)??(III) 5?Rzb/Reb?100??(IV) 1 (?m)?db?20 (?m)??(V) The present invention also provides a liquid crystal display using the polarizing plate.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing a birefringent film is provided, by which a birefringent film including a liquid crystal compound birefringent layer and another birefringent layer can be manufactured so as to have a reduced thickness in a reduced number of process steps. In the manufacturing method, a non-liquid crystal polymer birefringent layer that has been subjected to an aligning treatment is used as an alignment layer for a liquid crystal compound. According to the manufacturing method, the process step of separately preparing an alignment layer and the need for the additional alignment layer can be eliminated, thereby allowing the total thickness of the birefringent film to be reduced.

Abstract: A polarizing plate with an optical compensation layer is provided, which has an excellent peelability and is easy to reattach after mounted on an image display apparatus. A pressure-sensitive adhesive layer satisfying the condition (I) below is formed on both surfaces of an optical compensation layer, and one of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layers is further laminated with a polarizing plate.

Abstract: An inclined optical compensation film formed from a non-liquid-crystal polymer, which is useful in a TN mode liquid crystal display. A substrate is coated with a non-liquid-crystal polymer to thereby form a coating film; the non-liquid-crystal polymer of the coating film is inclined and aligned; and the coating film is solidified, thereby forming an inclined optical compensation film. The non-liquid-crystal polymer can be inclined and aligned by, for example, applying external force, such as wind blowing, to the coating film. This inclined optical compensation film exhibits, for example, a birefringence (?n) ranging from 0.001 to 0.5 and thus is useful in a TN mode liquid crystal display, etc.