Patent ID: 8610855

Claim:
A liquid crystal display device comprising: first and second substrates, at least one of which is transparent; a liquid crystal layer which is disposed between the first and second substrates; an electrode group which is formed on at least one of the first and second substrates and applies an electric field to the liquid crystal layer; a plurality of active elements which is connected to the electrode group; an alignment film which is disposed on at least one of the first and second substrates and has one surface contacting the liquid crystal layer; and an underlying layer which is disposed on at least one of the first and second substrates and contacts the other surface of the alignment film, wherein the alignment film includes a plurality of types of organic compounds having refractive indexes and polarities respectively different from one another, each of the plurality of types of organic compounds being separated in the film thickness direction according to the polarities; wherein the refractive index of the alignment film monotonically increases from a boundary surface between the alignment film and the liquid crystal layer to a boundary surface between the alignment film and the underlying layer, and wherein the minimum refractive index nLC of the liquid crystal layer, the refractive index nF2 of the alignment film at the boundary surface between the liquid crystal layer and the alignment film, the refractive index nF1 of the alignment film at the boundary surface between the alignment film and the underlying layer, and the refractive index nS2 of the underlying layer have a relationship of an equation (I) in which nLC≦nF2<nF1≦nS2.