Optically anisotropic film and method for making

1. An optically anisotropic film comprising:

a substrate and a molecularly oriented organic material formed on the substrate,

wherein said substrate has at least a part having a surface anisotropy,

wherein said organic material is formed of a lyotropic liquid-crystal comprising at least one organic dye, said organic dye having a structural formula comprising at least one ionogenic group, said at least one ionogenic group providing solubility in polar solvents, and said lyotropic liquid-crystal is aligned to a direction which does not coincide with a direction defined by said surface anisotropy and

wherein at least one optical axis of said film varies throughout the thickness direction of said film on at least a fraction of the thickness of said film and on at least a part of the surface of said film.

2. The optically anisotropic film according to claim 1 , wherein said film is an anisotropically absorbing film in at least one spectral range.

3. he optically anisotropic film according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein said film is a phase-shifting film in at least one spectral range.

4. The optically anisotropic film according to claim 1 , wherein the first derivative of the function describing the variation of the direction of the optical axis throughout the film's thickness is continuous.

5. The optically anisotropic film according to claim 1 , wherein the function describing the variation of the direction of the optical axis throughout the film's thickness is not symmetrical relative to the plane parallel to any section of the film surface.

6. The optically anisotropic film according to claim 1 , wherein said organic dye further comprises at least one non-ionogenic group that increases the solubility of said organic dye in polar and/or non-polar solvents in order to obtain the lyotropic liquid-crystal phase.

7. The optically anisotropic film according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of said organic dyes has the formula:

{K}(M)n

wherein K is the organic dye, the chemical formula of which contains an ionogenic group or several same or different ionogenic groups, M is an anti-ion, and n is the number of anti-ions in a molecule of the dye, and wherein n is a fraction in the case of sharing of one anti-ion by several molecules, and anti-ions could be different in case n>1.

8. The optically anisotropic film according to claim 2 , wherein the film is formed by a quantity of supramolecular complexes of at least one organic material, and the supramolecular complexes are oriented so as to polarize light passing through said film.

9. The optically anisotropic film according to claim 2 , wherein said film consists of at least two fragments situated in one plane, and the axes of polarization on the surface or in the near-surface layer of said film are directed at an angle relative to each other, and wherein said angle is in the range of approximately 0 to 90°.

10. The optically anisotropic film according to claim 1 , further comprising at least a second film formed on the surface of said optically anisotropic film, wherein said second film is selected from the group consisting of an optically isotropic film, a phase-shifting film, a birefringent film, an alignment layer, a protective film, and a film simultaneously serving as any combination of at least two of the above films.

11. The optically anisotropic film according to claim 1 , wherein said film has a property of at least one film or layer selected from the group of polarizing film, phase-shifting film, birefringent film, alignment layer, protective film, and a film simultaneously serving as any combination of at least two of the films of the said group on at least a part of the area of said film.

12. The optically anisotropic film according to claim 1 , wherein said substrate is made of a polymer material or a glass.

13. The optically anisotropic film according to claim 1 , wherein said substrate has flat, or convex, or concave surface or a surface varying according to a certain law.

14. The optically anisotropic film according to claim 1 , wherein at least part of a surface of said substrate has a relief or texture.

15. A method of making the optically anisotropic film of claim 1 , comprising:

applying a lyotropic liquid crystal on a surface of a substrate, said lyotropic liquid crystal comprising at least one organic material dissolved in a solvent, at least a part of said substrate having a surface anisotropy;

applying an external alignment action to said lyotropic liquid crystal, said external alignment action having a direction which does not coincide with a direction defined by said surface anisotropy; and

removing said solvent.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein said surface of said substrate has at least two regions with different directions of surface orientation.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein said surface anisotropy is formed by a texture on said surface of said substrate with either the material of said substrate or one or more materials applied onto said substrate.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein said texture is formed via a process selected from the group consisting of mechanical, chemical, and ionic processing.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the direction of the external alignment action over said surface of the film varies during the film manufacturing process.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein one or more regions having different properties are formed on said surface of said substrate.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein said one or more regions are formed with differing directions of the surface orientation.