Patent ID: 7468770

Claim:
A liquid crystal display device comprising: a display panel that displays images; a backlight; a viewing angle control panel disposed between the display panel and the backlight and overlapping the display panel, the viewing angle control panel including: a pair of transparent substrates; and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the pair of transparent substrates and having liquid crystal molecules in a hybrid alignment, the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer having a slow axis; an electric field applying unit that selectively applies an electric field to the liquid crystal layer to change alignment state of the liquid crystal molecules to control the viewing angle range of the display device; a first polarizing plate provided at the opposite side of the display panel than the viewing angle control panel; a second polarizing plate provided between the backlight and the viewing angle control panel at the opposite side of the viewing angle control panel than the display panel, the second polarizing plate having an absorption axis parallel to the slow axis of the liquid crystal molecules as viewed from a direction normal to the viewing angle control panel; and a third polarizing plate provided between the display panel and the viewing angle control panel, the third polarizing plate having an absorption axis parallel to the slow axis of the liquid crystal molecules as viewed from a direction normal to the viewing angle control panel, the second and third polarizing plates having absorption axes that are parallel to each other.