Patent ID: 7887198

Claim:
An optical device comprising: a light source; a light valve; a projection lens configured to enlarge an image to be displayed on the light valve, wherein, the light valve is disposed in the vicinity of an object plane of the projection lens; and an illumination uniformity redistributor that illuminates a peripheral portion more brightly than an optical axis portion, in a plane parallel to the object plane located in the vicinity of the object plane of the projection lens, said illumination uniformity redistributor including: a tapered rod disposed between said light valve and said light source and having a shape extending along the optical axis; and a light guiding member disposed between said light valve and said tapered rod and having a shape extending along the optical axis, the tapered rod has a shape spreading increasingly from the light source toward the light guiding member, and the light guiding member reflects the light passing through the tapered rod by use of side surfaces of the light guiding member, and guides the light to the light valve, and wherein a ratio between the length of the light guiding member in the direction of the optical axis and the length of the tapered rod in the direction of the optical axis is set in accordance with directivity of said light source such that the peripheral portion is illuminated more brighter than the optical axis portion; the optical axis portion is a portion of said parallel plane where an optical axis passes through, the peripheral portion is a portion of said parallel plane located in the periphery of the optical axis portion.