Patent ID: 7459189

Claim:
A liquid crystal optical element, comprising: a pair of substrates with electrodes, of which at least one is transparent; and an electrooptical functional layer containing a liquid crystal and a polymer sandwiched between the substrates, and which is configured to exhibit a light beam transmitting state and a light beam scattering state by changing an alignment state of the liquid crystal in response to application of a voltage, wherein the polymer forms column resins, which include resins of which the major axis directions substantially agree with a normal direction of a plane of the substrates with electrodes, and resins which tilt from the normal direction; a content of the polymer in the electrooptical functional layer is at least 10 wt %; the alignment direction of the liquid crystal in the light beam transmitting state substantially agrees with the normal direction of the substrate plane; and an area occupied by the column resins in the electrooptical functional layer on a horizontal plane to a plane of the substrates with electrodes substantially decreases as the distance from the substrates with electrodes increases.