OPTICAL ELEMENT AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING THE SAME

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical element which can reversibly control the degree of reflection or the presence of reflection by applying an electric field and ensures a much lower operating voltage than a conventional one formed with a multilayer structure of a liquid crystal and a polymerized and cured substance and to provide a method for producing the optical element. SOLUTION: The optical element whose refractive index varies periodically has a multilayer structure comprising (A) a liquid-crystalline material and a polymerized and cured substance of a polymerizable composition containing (B) a polymerizable compound containing a (meth)acrylate having a 5-25C alkyl group in a side chain and (C) a photopolymerization initiator between two transparent substrates with respective electrode layers. In the multilayer structure, the liquid-crystalline material and the polymerized and cured substance are alternately laminated and the alternately formed layers are different from one another in the contents of the liquid-crystalline material and the polymerized and cured substance.