Patent ID: 8040585

Claim:
An optical device comprising: a plurality of polarizers that are arranged along a propagation direction of incident light, the plurality of polarizers having transmission axes of substantially the same direction; a phaser that is provided between the plurality of polarizers, the phaser having a retarded-phase axis forming a predetermined angle with the transmission axes of the plurality of polarizers; and a phase modulator that is provided adjacent to the phaser along the propagation direction, the phase modulator having a retarded-phase axis of substantially the same direction as the retarded-phase axis of the phaser, wherein a phase difference generated in the incident light by the phase modulator is temporally adjusted such that the optical device transmits light in different wavelength ranges at different timings, wherein the number of the plurality of polarizers arranged along the propagation direction of the incident light is equal to or greater than three, one or more phasers are additionally provided, and each of the phasers is provided between any two of the three or more polarizers, and one or more phase modulators are additionally provided, and each of the phase modulators is provided adjacent to one of the phasers along the propagation direction, and wherein the phasers generate phase differences in the incident light that increase substantially arithmetically or geometrically in an arrangement order of the phasers along the propagation direction.