Patent ID: 7130136

Claim:
An optical modulator holder which holds an optical modulator for forming an optical image by modulating a light beam irradiated from a light source according to image information, and has a cooling chamber with a cooling fluid sealed therein to cool said optical modulator with the cooling fluid sealed in said cooling chamber, said optical modulator holder comprising; a pair of frame members each having an opening corresponding to an optical modulation face of said optical modulator for holding said optical modulator therebetween; and a light-transmissible substrate provided at least on either one of the sides of said openings opposite to the sides where said pair of frame members are opposed to each other, wherein said cooling chamber is formed within at least one of said pair of frame members by closing the sides of said opening where said pair of frame members are opposed to each other and at least either one of the sides of said openings opposite to the sides where said pair of frame members are opposed to each other respectively with said optical modulator and said light-transmissible substrate, wherein at least one of said pair of frame members comprises, at positions not causing two-dimensional interference with said optical modulation face of said optical modulator, an inlet port for introducing therethrough said cooling fluid into said cooling chamber, an outlet port for discharging therethrough said cooling fluid inside said cooling chamber to the outside, and a buffer section for temporally accumulating said cooling fluid flowing therein via said inlet port, and for rectifying the flow direction of said cooling fluid to a direction parallel to said optical modulation face and/or perpendicular to said optical modulation face, wherein said optical modulator holder has a cooling chamber dividing section that is constituted by a light-transmittable plate-shaped member having a shape corresponding to said optical modulation face of said optical modulator, the cooling chamber dividing section being placed inside said cooling chamber and dividing said cooling chamber into a light beam incident side region and a light beam irradiation side region for rectifying the flow direction of said cooling fluid flowing therein via said inlet port to a direction perpendicular to said optical modulation face, and wherein said cooling chamber dividing section has, when placed inside said cooling chamber, a taper portion formed in a side edge section of said inlet port, the cross-sectional area becoming gradually smaller when extends toward said inlet port side, and wherein said buffer section includes a recess positioned on a periphery of said opening in said frame member with said cooling chamber formed therein and recessing in a direction perpendicular to said optical modulation face, said light-transmissible substrate, and said cooling chamber dividing section.