Liquid crystal panel and liquid crystal display apparatus

1. A liquid crystal panel comprising:

a liquid crystal cell comprising a liquid crystal layer containing homogeneously aligned nematic liquid crystals in the absence of an electric field;

a polarizer arranged on both sides of the liquid crystal cell;

a first optical element arranged between one polarizer and the liquid crystal cell; and

a second optical element arranged between the other polarizer and the liquid crystal cell, wherein:

the first optical element comprises a retardation film containing a styrene-based resin and a polycarbonate-based resin and satisfying the following expressions (1) and (2) and has a refractive index profile of nx>nz>ny; and

the second optical element has substantially optical isotropy,

240 nm<Re[590]<350 nm  (1)

0.20< Rth[ 590]/ Re[ 590]<0.80  (2)

wherein the expressions (1) and (2), Re[590] and Rth[590] respectively represent in-plane retardation and thickness direction retardation values of the film measured by using light of a wavelength of 590 nm at 23° C.,

wherein a content of the styrene-based resin in the retardation film is 10 to 40 parts by weight with respect to 100 parts by weight of a total solid content.

2. The liquid crystal panel according to claim 1 , wherein the first optical element has a slow axis which is one of substantially parallel and substantially perpendicular to an absorption axis of one polarizer.

3. The liquid crystal panel according to claim 1 , wherein an initial alignment direction of the liquid crystal cell is substantially parallel to a direction of an absorption axis of the polarizer on a side where the second optical element is arranged.

4. The liquid crystal panel according to claim 3 , wherein the initial alignment direction of the liquid crystal cell is substantially parallel to a direction of an absorption axis of the polarizer arranged on a backlight side of the liquid crystal cell.

5. The liquid crystal panel according to claim 3 , wherein the initial alignment direction of the liquid crystal cell is substantially perpendicular to a direction of an absorption axis of the polarizer arranged on a backlight side of the liquid crystal cell.

6. The liquid crystal panel according to claim 1 , wherein the polycarbonate-based resin of the retardation film contains repeating units represented by the formulae (5) and (6)

7. The liquid crystal panel according to claim 1 , wherein the retardation film has an absolute value of photoelastic coefficient measured by using light of a wavelength of 590 nm at 23° C. of 2.0×10 −11 to 8.0×10 −11 m 2 /N.

8. The liquid crystal panel according to claim 1 , wherein the second optical element comprises at least one polymer film selected from the group consisting of a cellulose-based resin, a norbornene-based resin, and a resin containing an alternating copolymer of isobutylene and N-methylmaleimide and an acrylonitrile/styrene copolymer.

9. The liquid crystal panel according to claim 1 , wherein the second optical element comprises a laminate film prepared by laminating a negative C plate satisfying the following expressions (7) and (8), and a positive C plate satisfying the following expressions (9) and (10)

0 nm<Re[590]≦10 nm  (7)

20 nm<Rth[590]≦400 nm  (8)

0 nm<Re[590]≦10 nm  (9)

−400 nm≦Rth[590]<−20 nm  (10)

wherein the expressions (7), (8), (9), and (10), Re[590] and Rth[590] respectively represent in-plane retardation and thickness direction retardation values of the film measured by using light of a wavelength of 590 nm at 23° C.

10. A liquid crystal television comprising the liquid crystal panel of claim 1 .

11. A liquid crystal display apparatus comprising the liquid crystal panel of claim 1 .