A novel optical compensatory sheet is disclosed the sheet comprises a transparent
support and an optically anisotropic layer formed of discotic liquid-crystal molecules
thereon. The anisotropic layer comprises at least one air interface control agent,
thereby having an air interface polarity of at least 1.5-fold relative to that
of a layer which does not comprise said air interface control agent. An optical
compensatory sheet comprising a transparent support and an optically anisotropic
layer formed of discotic liquid-crystal molecules thereon, wherein said anisotropic
layer comprises at least one compound denoted by formula (I) is also disclosed
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