Patent ID: RE41679

Claim:
A wide viewing angle polarizer comprising: a polarizing film; and a phase retarder adhesively laminated on at least one surface of said polarizing film through an adhesive layer, said phase retarder being made of a composite phase retarder constituted by a first retardation layer and a second retardation layer, which is a laminate in which a the second retardation layer of a cholesteric liquid crystal-oriented solidified layer in a selective reflection wavelength range of not larger than 350 nm is supported by a the first retardation layer of a thermoplastic resin exhibiting positive birefringence, said composite phase retarder being formed so that said laminate has Re of not smaller than 10 nm and Rth−Re of not smaller than 50 nm on the basis of light at a wavelength of 590 nm when Re and Rth are defined as Re=(nx−ny)X d and Rth=(nx−nz)X d respectively in which nx and ny are in-plane main refractive indices, nz is a thicknesswise refractive index, and d is a layer thickness.