JPH0627453A - Optical element for liquid crystal display - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve a visual field angle enlargement effect by constituting the optical element of a micro-lens array (MLA) in which minute lenses are arranged like a plane and a polarized light element layer, and providing the polarized light element layer on the observation surface side of a liquid crystal display from the MLA layer. CONSTITUTION:An MLA layer 3 is constituted by arraying minute unit parts having many lens functions having a convex lens function and/or a concave lens function, like a plane in a certain period. In this MLA layer, there are a one-dimensional MLA in which a columnar solid in which one side face of a semicolumn, etc., is a plane is arrayed in one direction by allowing its plane side to coincide with the array surface, and a two-dimensional MLA in which a solid having the plane bottom face of a rectangle, a triangle, a hexagon, etc., is arrayed vertically and horizontally. When this MLA layer 3 is combined with a polarized light element layer 1 provided on its observation surface side, an external light is absorbed by the polarized light element layer 1 and does not reach the lens function surface, therefore, an external light scattering reflection is suppressed, and on the other hand, a light beam from a liquid crystal cell is not influenced even if there is the polarized light element layer 1, and deterioration of a contrast ratio is suppressed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical element for liquid crystal display.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It has been proposed to combine a liquid crystal display with an optical element such as a microlens array in order to expand the viewing angle (described later) of a direct view type liquid crystal display.

As a method of expanding the viewing angle by combining an optical element such as a lens for controlling the light transmission direction on the viewing surface side of a liquid crystal display, a method of arranging a plano-concave lens group (JP-A-53-25399), A method of disposing a polyhedral lens (JP-A-56-65175), a method of disposing a prism-shaped projection transparent plate (JP-A-61-148430), and a method of disposing a lens in each display unit of a liquid crystal cell (JP-A-SHO). 62-56930, JP-A-2-1080.
In addition to these, in the case of a transmissive display, means for controlling the light emission direction of the back light source is added (JP-A-58-169132, JP-A-60-202464, JP-A-60-202464, JP-A-60-202464, etc.). Sho 63-25332
9 gazette).

When a microlens array is combined with a liquid crystal display, a technique for eliminating the drawback that the display image is difficult to see due to direct reflection on the lens surface is a non-reflection coating film such as an antireflection multilayer film on the lens surface. Is proposed (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 56-651).
75 publication).

[0005]

The liquid crystal display is
It has the drawback that the display quality changes depending on the viewing direction. Generally, it is set so that the best display quality can be obtained when observing from the normal direction of the display surface, so the display quality deteriorates as the angle between the normal direction of the display surface and the observation direction increases. , It has a drawback that if it exceeds a certain angle, it will exceed the range that the observer can accept, that is, the viewing angle at which good display quality can be obtained is small (hereinafter, it may be simply referred to as "the viewing angle is narrow"). ing.

The disadvantage of a narrow viewing angle is particularly noticeable in the super twisted nematic mode, which is widely used in personal word processors, personal computers, etc., because it has a relatively simple structure and is excellent in productivity and capable of displaying a large capacity. When viewed from a direction of 20 ° to 50 ° from the normal line direction of the display surface (depending on the vertical direction, the horizontal direction, etc. with respect to the display surface), the displayed contents are often almost unreadable.
For this reason, it cannot be observed by a plurality of people, which hinders the application and development of the liquid crystal display.

In order to solve this drawback, it has been proposed to provide an optical element such as a microlens array on the observation surface of the liquid crystal display, but none of them is practical and has not solved the problem of the viewing angle. .

The reason for this is that, according to the study by the present inventors, the conventionally proposed method has a drawback that the display quality of the liquid crystal display is remarkably deteriorated. That is, in the method of arranging the plano-concave lens group, the flat plate microlens array, the polyhedral lens group, the lenticular lens, and the prism plate that have been conventionally proposed, since the light rays incident from the outside of the liquid crystal display are strongly scattered and reflected,
When there is incident light from outside such as normal room lighting (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as “external light”), the entire screen becomes whitish, and the contrast ratio between the brightest color display part and the darkest color display part decreases. However, there is a drawback that the display is difficult to see. That is, when the liquid crystal display is observed from the front (the direction normal to the display surface), the display quality deteriorates, and
The larger the angle between the normal direction of the display surface and the viewing direction becomes, the more remarkable it becomes, and the display content becomes almost unreadable at a certain angle or more, and as a result, the viewing angle, which is the original purpose, can be expanded. There wasn't. Furthermore, this drawback is
There is a correlation that the greater the effect of enlarging the viewing angle of the microlens array, the more prominent it becomes, making it more difficult to increase the viewing angle of the liquid crystal display.

In principle, by increasing the brightness of the back light source of the liquid crystal display, by irradiating from the back with a light amount that is overwhelmingly stronger than the outside light that deteriorates the display quality, the adverse effect of reflection of outside light is ignored. Although it can be made as high as possible, in this case, it is necessary to increase the output of the back light source, and the large features of the liquid crystal display such as small size, light weight, thin shape, and low power consumption are lost, and thus it becomes impractical.

According to the study by the present inventor, this defect is hardly eliminated even by the method of providing the antireflection coating layer on the lens surface. This is because the non-reflective coating layer basically works effectively only for incident light from one specific direction.
This is because the antireflection effect decreases or disappears when the observation angle is changed, and it is impossible to apply it to things that are observed from any angle such as a liquid crystal display.

What is called an antireflection coat may include so-called non-glare treatment (matte treatment) in which random fine irregularities are formed on the surface, but this method has only the effect of suppressing regular reflection. Therefore, it goes without saying that it is not effective when applied to the lens surface.

Since the drawback that the viewing angle of the liquid crystal display is narrow is a principle problem of the liquid crystal display, there is a limit to expanding the viewing angle by improving the inside of the liquid crystal cell, and a sufficient effect is not obtained. .

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks and to provide an optical element for a liquid crystal display, which has a sufficient effect of enlarging the viewing angle even under a normal use environment where there is external light.

[0014]

In order to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks, the present invention is an optical element used on the observation surface side of a liquid crystal layer of a liquid crystal display, wherein the optical element has at least a minute unit lens as a surface. An optical element for a liquid crystal display comprising a microlens array layer and a polarizing element layer, which are arranged in a line, and the polarizing element layer is provided on the observation surface side of the liquid crystal display with respect to the microlens array layer. It is a thing.

In the present invention, the liquid crystal display means an electro-optical effect of liquid crystal molecules, that is, optical anisotropy (refractive index anisotropy), orientation, fluidity, dielectric anisotropy, etc. An optical shutter for changing the light transmittance or reflectance is arranged by combining a liquid crystal layer, which is adapted to change the alignment state of the liquid crystal by applying an electric field or energizing the display unit, and polarizing elements arranged before and after the liquid crystal layer. A liquid crystal cell is used for display. Further, here, a so-called direct-viewing type liquid crystal display of a type in which a display image displayed on the liquid crystal cell is directly observed is referred to.

In the present invention, a microlens array (hereinafter sometimes referred to as MLA) means a minute unit portion having a large number of lens functions having a convex lens function and / or a concave lens function, formed into a plane shape with a certain period. It is arranged. This includes a one-dimensional MLA in which one side surface is a flat surface such as a semi-cylindrical column, the planar side surface is aligned with the array surface in one direction, and a planar low surface such as a rectangular shape, a triangle, or a hexagon. There is a two-dimensional MLA in which the solids are arranged vertically and horizontally.

With conventional microlens arrays such as lenticular lenses and flat plate microlens arrays,
As described above, even if it is mounted on the surface of a liquid crystal display and the viewing angle is expanded, the entire screen becomes whitish due to the reflection of external light, and the display content becomes almost unreadable especially when viewed from an oblique direction.

As a result of a detailed study in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks, the present inventor has found that it can be solved by combining with a polarizing element provided on the observation surface side of the microlens array, and completed the present invention. is there.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a schematic diagram of a cross section of the optical element of the present invention. In addition, an example of a schematic configuration view of a cross section of a liquid crystal display using the optical element of the present invention is shown in FIG.
Shown in. In addition, in FIG. 1, the transparent plastic substrate 1 and the transparent adhesive layer 4 are not essential for the optical element of the present invention.

In the application of the optical element of the present invention to a liquid crystal display, there are roughly two modes. That is, one is a mode in which the optical element of the present invention is provided on the observation surface side of a liquid crystal cell having an optical shutter function, and the other is the optical element of the present invention instead of the polarizing element on the observation surface side of the liquid crystal cell. This is the mode used. Among these, the former mode is preferable in that the effect of enlarging the viewing angle is large, but the latter mode is also preferable in that a practical effect of enlarging the viewing angle can be obtained while suppressing the number of parts.

When the optical element of the present invention is provided on the observation surface side of the liquid crystal cell, the polarization direction of the polarizing element of the optical element of the present invention is such that when the liquid crystal cell is set to the highest transmittance state,
It is preferable to arrange in a direction that maximizes the transmittance. In the case where the polarizing element on the observation surface side of the liquid crystal cell and an element such as a microlens array sandwiched between the polarizing elements of the optical element of the present invention have substantially no optical rotatory power as a whole, this direction is It coincides with the polarization axis direction of the polarizing element on the observation surface side.

In the present invention, the microlens array (hereinafter sometimes referred to as MLA) is an array of minute unit portions having a lens function arranged in a plane with a certain period. This includes a one-dimensional MLA in which one side surface is a flat surface such as a semi-cylindrical column, the planar side surface is aligned with the array surface in one direction, and a planar low surface such as a rectangular shape, a triangle, or a hexagon. There is a two-dimensional MLA in which the solids are arranged vertically and horizontally.

Here, the "minute" unit portion means that the array body (MLA) is sufficiently large with respect to the size of the unit portion (unit lens). When, it is assumed that the unit portion is minute.

Further, "having a lens function" as used herein means
Unlike a normal single-convex lens or a single-concave lens, it does not need to have a fixed focus, and may have a function of refracting an incident light ray in an arbitrary controlled direction.

In the present invention, the functional surface of the MLA is preferably formed by substantially one continuous curved surface. Regarding the continuity of the surface, even if it is a discontinuous surface due to scratches, fine protrusions, steps, etc. on the surface formed at the time of manufacture or use, it is Anything that does not become a defect will do.

Here, the continuous curved surface means that there is no intersection line where two or more curved surfaces intersect. However, since this intersection line portion can also be a curved surface having a radius of curvature of zero, in order to avoid confusion, Here, it is defined as having no portion having a radius of curvature of 5% or less of the unit lens array period.

Further, here, the functional surface is defined as a set of points where the refractive index changes, which expresses the lens function, and when the lens group is made of a substance having a uniform refractive index, the lens group. The surface shape of the plate becomes a functional surface, and in the flat plate MLA that develops the lens function by giving the refractive index distribution inside the transparent flat substrate such as the glass flat plate, the boundary between the lens functional portion and the base material portion It becomes a face.

In order to have such a lens function surface, 1
The two minute unit lens parts have a convex lens function part with the center of curvature on the lens side of the lens function surface and a concave lens function part with the center of curvature on the opposite side, and these lens function surfaces are continuous on one curved surface. It is preferable that Needless to say, if one continuous curved surface is formed, a plane may be partially included.

FIGS. 3 to 12 show the ML according to the present invention.
The example of the lens surface shape of A is shown. 3 to 5 are examples of a two-dimensional MLA in which minute unit lenses having a hexagonal lower surface are arranged in a honeycomb shape. 6 and 7 are examples of one-dimensional MLA in which a part of the side surface of a cylinder is arranged. Also,
8 to 12 are examples of the MLA in which the functional surface is substantially formed by one continuous curved surface.

The function of the unit lens portion (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as a lens) of the MLA is to control parallel rays incident on the unit lens portion from a direction perpendicular to the surface where the unit lens portion is arranged. It is necessary to have a function of expanding and emitting with the scattered angle.

Here, "having a controlled scattering angle" means the intensity distribution of the transmitted light that propagates while being scattered through the unit lens portion of the parallel light rays incident from the normal direction of the array surface of the MLA. When measured at a distance large enough to the size of the lens, the intensity clearly decreases at an angle of less than 90 degrees (this is called "scattering angle") with an increase in the angle from the normal direction. Says that there is an angle.

That is, in the concave lens function part of the unit lens, the parallel light flux transmitted through the lens part is expanded with a scattering angle according to the lens shape, and in the convex lens function part, it is once focused on the focus and then expanded. . When the minute unit lens includes both the concave lens function portion and the convex lens function portion, the scattering angles of the both do not have to be the same, but it is preferable to approximate them as much as possible.

In general, the display quality changes depending on the viewing direction of a liquid crystal cell by rotating the viewing direction about the normal line even if the angle between the viewing direction and the normal line direction of the cell viewing surface is constant. Also occurs. That is, the viewing angle is generally different depending on the direction in which the observation direction moves from the front of the cell (left direction when viewed from the display surface, right direction, upward direction, downward direction, etc.). Alternatively, depending on the purpose of use of the liquid crystal display, there is a case in which the viewing angle in one direction should be preferentially expanded, for example, the viewing angle in the left and right directions should be expanded. In such a case, by designing the function of the lens so that the viewing angle characteristics of each direction of the liquid crystal cell or the desired viewing angle expansion direction have different scattering angles depending on each direction, the liquid crystal having higher display quality can be obtained. It can be a display.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG.
In the dimensional MLA, when mounted on a liquid crystal display, the viewing angle is expanded in the up, down, left, and right directions, but according to the one-dimensional MLA as shown in FIGS. 6 and 11, the array direction (in the upper left front view of FIG. 2, The viewing angle can be expanded only in the horizontal direction of the paper.

The size and position of the unit lens of the MLA used in the present invention can be selected according to the size of the display unit of the liquid crystal cell. When the liquid crystal display is a dot matrix type, there are two preferable modes for the correspondence between one display unit and the unit lens. One is that one unit lens exactly corresponds to one display unit of the liquid crystal cell, and the other is for one display unit,
Two or more lenses are compatible. With this, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of moire due to the interference between the lens array pitch of the MLA and the display unit pitch of the cell. Of these, the latter mode is preferable from the viewpoint that productivity is improved because precise alignment is unnecessary and the same MLA can be used for cells having several kinds of dot sizes. More preferably 4 for 1 dot
It is preferable that one or more unit lenses correspond, and it is more preferable that eight or more unit lenses correspond to one display unit. Here, the number n of unit lenses for one display unit is defined by the following equation (2) in the case of one-dimensional MLA, and by the following equation (3) in the case of two-dimensional MLA.

N = N / (L / l) (2) n = N / (A / a) (3) Here, N is on the LCD display surface. Total number of unit lenses,
L is the length of the liquid crystal cell in the one-dimensional MLA unit lens array direction, l is the length of the lens array direction of one display unit of the liquid crystal cell that contributes to display, and A is the area of the LCD display surface.
“A” is an area of a portion that contributes to display in one display unit of the liquid crystal cell. These expressions show the average number of lenses corresponding to the display unit portion excluding the portion that does not directly contribute to the display such as the wiring space on the LCD display surface.

The optical element of the present invention has the above MLA.
And a polarizing element are combined.

In the present invention, the polarizing element is an optical element which transmits only a polarized component in one direction, and is generally a polarizing plate,
It is also called a polarizing film or polarizing filter.

When the optical element of the present invention is used in a liquid crystal display, the surface on the MLA side is used as the liquid crystal layer side and the polarizing element side is used as the observation surface side. By arranging in this way, the M
It is possible to suppress the scattering and reflection of external light in the LA and minimize the decrease in the contrast ratio.

The microlens array used in the optical element of the present invention can be obtained by applying a conventional method for manufacturing a lenticular lens or a Fresnel lens.

That is, a method of preparing a female die in which a desired lens shape is engraved in advance and filling it with resin or the like and transferring it onto the surface of the sheet, preparing a similar die and injecting the resin into the base material portion A method of molding lens group parts at the same time, a method of uniformly applying a photo-curable resin such as an ultraviolet curable resin on a substrate such as a plastic film, irradiating only the desired part with a light beam to cure it, and then removing the unnecessary part Examples of the method include, but are not limited to, a method of mechanically cutting the surface of a plastic film to form a lens shape, and a method of combining these.

Among these, the method of filling the mold with an ultraviolet curable resin and irradiating it with ultraviolet rays to cure it while transferring it onto the substrate is preferable from the viewpoint of continuous production, good productivity and precise processing. .

As the base material on which the MLA is made, transparent glass, plastic film or the like can be used, but it is preferable to use a transparent plastic film as the base material. At this time, it is preferable to use a film having a birefringence as small as possible. It can also be formed directly on the surface of the liquid crystal cell, or M
You can also build LA. In particular, it is most efficient and preferable to directly form MLA on a polarizing film having a structure in which a protective film is laminated on a polarizer.

The liquid crystal display to which the optical element of the present invention is applied is a dot matrix type liquid crystal display in which a large amount of information can be displayed by a liquid crystal cell in which dot-shaped display units are arranged vertically and horizontally, and the viewing angle is enlarged. This is preferable in that the effect obtained by allowing observation by a plurality of people is large.

When the liquid crystal display using the optical element of the present invention is of a transmissive type having a back light source, the light emission direction of the back light source is such that the light flux emitted from a light source such as a fluorescent tube is a means such as a lens or a prism. It is preferable that the light beam emitted from the light source is used effectively and a wider viewing angle can be secured. That is, the present invention allows the individual unit lenses of the MLA to
The light flux transmitted in the direction of poor display quality of the liquid crystal cell is refracted so as not to affect the observation, and at the same time, the light flux transmitted in the direction of good display can be observed from various directions. Therefore, the back light source having no directivity which has been generally used conventionally does not utilize the light flux emitted at a large angle with respect to the normal direction of the display surface. Therefore, the light flux emitted from the light source can be effectively used by previously providing the light flux emitted from the back light source with directivity by a lens, a prism, or the like. Although it is possible to obtain a directional light flux with an optical fiber sheet or a louver, these methods do not effectively use the light flux emitted from the light source because the directivity is obtained by absorbing unnecessary light flux. Not preferable.

When a directional light source is used as the back light source, the directivity of the light flux emitted from the back light source is 60% or more, more preferably 80% or more, in the viewing angle range of the liquid crystal cell to be combined. Preferably.

As a method for incorporating the optical element of the present invention into a liquid crystal display, it is sufficient that the optical element of the present invention is incorporated into the liquid crystal display so as to satisfy the constituent requirements of the present invention at the time of finally becoming a liquid crystal display. In addition to the method of preparing the composite in advance and assembling it in the liquid crystal cell, the method of sequentially assembling the separately prepared MLA and the polarizing element in the liquid crystal cell, or the optical element of the present invention in advance in the polarizing element on the observation surface side of the liquid crystal cell Several methods are conceivable, such as a method of incorporating the element and incorporating the optical element of the present invention without making any changes to the conventional manufacturing process of the liquid crystal display, and any method may be used.

Further, various methods conventionally used for improving the visibility of the liquid crystal display, for example, antiglare treatment (non-glare treatment) by roughening the observation surface of the liquid crystal display are applied to the optical element of the present invention. It is preferable to use them in combination.

[0049]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to examples.

Example (1) Fabrication of optical element A die stamped on a corrugated plate surface was prepared, and this die was filled with an ultraviolet curable resin (refractive index 1.5 after curing), and further on this. Superimpose transparent acetate films (80 μm thick), irradiate ultraviolet rays from a high pressure mercury lamp to temporarily cure the resin, then remove from the mold, and again irradiate ultraviolet rays from the lens forming surface to fully cure, A film with MLA having the one-dimensional MLA of the present invention having the shape shown in FIG. 6 was prepared.

The cross-sectional shape of this MLA was such that convex arcs were continuous, the array period was 50 μm, and the difference between the lowest point and the highest point (peak height) was 15 μm. Further, the arrangement direction of the unit lenses is set to be the horizontal direction of the display surface when assembled as a liquid crystal display.

A polarizing film for a liquid crystal display (with a surface non-glare treatment) was attached to the surface of the film with MLA opposite to the surface on which the MLA was formed to prepare an optical element of the present invention. At this time, the polarization axis of the polarizing film was made to coincide with the polarization axis direction of the polarizing film on the observation surface side of the mounted liquid crystal cell.

(2) Preparation and evaluation of liquid crystal display Super twisted liquid crystal monochrome display mounted on a commercially available personal computer (display color blue mode, screen size diagonal of about 10 inches, number of pixels 400 × vertical)
A liquid crystal cell having a width of 640, a dot pitch of 290 μm, and a backlight) is prepared, and the optical element of the present invention prepared in (1) is placed on the observation surface side of the liquid crystal cell with the lens formation surface inside (the liquid crystal cell side). I attached it.

The thus obtained liquid crystal display equipped with the optical element of the present invention (this is referred to as display 1) is the conventional liquid crystal display before mounting the optical element (referred to as display 2), And a liquid crystal display (this is referred to as display 3) in which the film with MLA before laminating the polarizing film prepared in (1) was attached to the same liquid crystal cell was evaluated for comparison.

The evaluation method was carried out by observing the display quality by observing from the direction normal to the display surface of the display (front) and 60 ° to the left. The evaluation was carried out under room lighting, which is a normal use environment, and in a dark room. The results are summarized in Table 1.

[0056]

[Table 1] As described above, the optical element of the present invention can widen the viewing angle without deteriorating the display quality from the front of the liquid crystal display, and the liquid crystal display has a wide viewing angle which has never been obtained by this element. You can see that it is a liquid crystal display.

[0057]

With the microlens array of the present invention, the angle at which a good display of a liquid crystal display is observed, that is, the viewing angle is dramatically expanded.

That is, with the simple structure, by eliminating the drawback that the viewing angle of the liquid crystal display is narrow,
Good display quality can be obtained in a wide range of viewing directions, and the display can be viewed without any inconvenience even when the display is viewed by multiple people or the viewing angle is limited. Therefore, it becomes possible to obtain a display quality that is comparable to other display systems such as CRT system.

As a result, the excellent advantages of the liquid crystal display such as thinness, light weight, and low power consumption can be further utilized, and the dissatisfaction and inconvenience with respect to the display quality, which has been a problem in the past, can be eliminated. At the same time, it will be possible to develop new applications that were previously impossible.

[0060]

[Function] In the liquid crystal cell of the liquid crystal display, the light transmittance and the display color change depending on the viewing direction, and if it exceeds a certain angle (the critical viewing angle of the cell) from the normal direction of the display surface, it exceeds the range that the observer can accept. I will end up.

In the conventional method of enlarging the viewing angle of the liquid crystal display using the microlens array, there is a problem that the contrast ratio of the liquid crystal display is lowered because external light is strongly diffused and reflected by the lens function surface.

On the other hand, in the optical element of the present invention, since the polarizing element is arranged further on the observation surface side of the microlens array,
Since most of the external light is absorbed by this polarizing element and does not reach the lens function surface, the scattering reflection of external light is minimized, while the light beam emitted from the liquid crystal cell is not affected by the polarizing element. Since it does not exist, the deterioration of the contrast ratio can be minimized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an example of an optical element of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an example of a liquid crystal display using the optical element of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an example of the shape of a microlens array used in the optical element of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a view of the microlens array shown in FIG.

5 is a view in the direction of arrow VI of the microlens array shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing another example of the shape of the microlens array used in the optical element of the present invention.

7 is a VII direction arrow view of the microlens array shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing another example of the shape of the microlens array used in the optical element of the present invention.

9 is a VIII direction arrow view of the microlens array shown in FIG.

10 is a view in the IX direction of the microlens array shown in FIG.

FIG. 11 is a plan view showing another example of the shape of the microlens array used in the optical element of the present invention.

12 is a view in the X direction of the microlens array shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ··· Polarizing element layer 2 ··· Transparent plastic substrate 3 ··· Micro lens array layer 4 ··· Transparent adhesive layer 5 ··· Optical element of the present invention 6 ··· Polarizing film 7 ··· Transparent glass substrate 8 ··· Transparent electrode 9 ··· Liquid crystal layer 10 ··· Observation Direction example 11 ... Micro lens 12 Micro lens array

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An optical element used on the viewing surface side of a liquid crystal layer of a liquid crystal display, the optical element comprising a microlens array layer in which at least minute unit lenses are arranged in a plane and a polarizing element layer, An optical element for a liquid crystal display, wherein the polarizing element layer is provided closer to the viewing surface side of the liquid crystal display than the microlens array layer.