Patent ID: 7324180

Claim:
A liquid crystal display comprising: a liquid crystal cell of VA mode; a pair of polarizers between which the liquid crystal cell is sandwiched; a laminated retardation optical element placed between the liquid crystal cell and at least one of the polarizers, the laminated retardation optical element comprising: an A plate-type retardation layer that acts as an A plate; and a C plate-type retardation layer that is optically bonded to a surface of the A plate-type retardation layer and acts as a negative C plate, wherein the C plate-type retardation layer has a thickness of 5 μm or less; wherein: the A plate-type retardation layer comprises a cross-linked nematic liquid crystal, and the C plate-type retardation layer comprises a cross-linked chiral nematic liquid crystal; a difference between a mean refractive index of the A plate-type retardation layer and a mean refractive index of the C plate-type retardation layer is 0.05 or less; and the A plate-type retardation layer is a λ/4 retardation layer having a function of bringing, to light that passes through this retardation layer, a phase difference corresponding to a quarter of a wavelength of the light; wherein the laminated retardation optical element is arranged so that the C plate-type retardation layer is situated on a side close to the liquid crystal cell; an additional λ/4 retardation layer having a function of bringing, to light that passes through this retardation layer, a phase difference corresponding to a quarter of a wavelength of the light, placed on the liquid crystal cell on a side opposite to the laminated retardation optical element; and an additional polarization layer having a function of controlling a state of polarization of light that passes through the additional λ/4 retardation layer, placed on the additional λ/4 retardation layer on a side opposite to the liquid crystal cell; wherein an angle between an axis of phase advance of the additional λ/4 retardation layer and an axis of transmission of the additional polarization layer is 45±2 degrees.