Patent ID: 7185989

Claim:
A method of color separation, said method comprising the steps of: a1) making linearly polarized light incident on a first color separation member so as to separate the linearly polarized light into reflected light and transmitted light, both reflected light and transmitted light having different colors and one of the different colors corresponding to one of three colors; a2) making one of the reflected light and the transmitted light incident on a second color separation member so as to separate said one of the reflected light and the transmitted light into further reflected light and further transmitted light, both further reflected light and further transmitted light corresponding to the other two of the three colors, respectively, wherein, said first color separation member includes a first polarization direction changing element, a second polarization direction changing element, each of said polarization direction changing elements changing polarization directions of different predetermined wavebands of incident light in different modes, and a first polarization separation element that reflects or transmits the incident light according to the polarization directions of the incident light, said first polarization separation element is arranged at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the incident light, and at least one of said first polarization direction changing element and said second polarization direction changing element is arranged parallel to said first polarization separation element, and said second color separation member includes a second polarization separation element; and a3) passing the reflected light through at least one of said first polarization direction changing element and said second polarization direction changing element.