Patent ID: 6987618

Claim:
A polarization converting device, comprising: a pair of prism blocks each including: a polarization splitting surface being inclined with respect to an optical axis, and dividing incident light into a first polarized component and a second polarized component orthogonal to each other through reflecting the incident light and allowing the incident light to pass therethrough; a reflective surface being inclined toward the same direction as the polarization splitting surface, and reflecting the first polarized component reflected by the polarization splitting surface toward a direction where the second polarized component having passed through the polarization splitting surface is emitted; and a half-wave plate being disposed on the optical path of either the first or the second polarized component, and converting the polarization direction of either the first or the second polarized component into the same polarization direction as that of the other polarized component, wherein the pair of prism blocks are symmetrically opposed.