Patent ID: 7443474

Claim:
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.