Motohiro YamaharaIichiro InoueTakako NakaiShigeaki Mizushima

Abstract
This paper describes one of the wide-viewing-angle technologies for thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal-displays (TFT-LCDs), Gradual Refraction Polarizer (GRP) formula especially for a twisted nematic liquid crystal display (TN-LCD). This formula uses optical compensation films with an inclined optical indicatrix. The optical characteristics of the entire compensation film composed of a hybrid aligned discotic compound layer on a triacetylcellulose (TAC) substrate were identified as uniaxial negative birefringence whose optical axis was inclined from the normal direction. We determined that the optical parameters of combination of the discotic layer and the substrate as a whole govern the viewing characteristics of TN-LCDs using GRP films.