Patent ID: 8339719

Claim:
An optical apparatus using a prism optical system which has three optical surfaces: from an object side thereof, a first surface having transmission, a second surface having internal reflection plus transmission and a third surface having reflection and is formed of a medium having a refractive index of 1.3or greater and in which light enters the medium through the first surface ( 11 ), is totally reflected at the second surface ( 12 ) and then reflected at the third surface ( 13 ), and finally leaves the medium this time through the second surface ( 12 ), characterized in that at least two said prism optical systems are arranged side by side with respect to an imaging plane of a single imaging device so that images in at least two directions are formed side by side on the imaging plane of the single imaging device, and at least one of three surfaces of each of said prism optical systems has a reflecting surface defined by a rotationally asymmetric plane.