Compared to ordinary optoelectronic liquid crystal molecules, reactive liquid crystals not only have a liquid crystal core in their molecular structure, but also have one or more reactive functional groups at the end, which can be synthesized into polymer networks through photopolymerization, hence they are called reactive liquid crystals.

Reactive liquid crystals can be used to make phase difference films. The phase delay can be calculated by multiplying the difference in biaxial refractive index of the film with the thickness of the film. Whether it is rod-shaped or disc-shaped liquid crystal molecules, the birefringence of the liquid crystal is basically about 0.1, which is ten or even a hundred times higher than that of traditional polymer extension films. Therefore, it is suitable for making thin optical films.