Patent ID: 8740430

Claim:
A light emitting device comprising: an excitation light source for emitting excitation light; a light emitting section for emitting fluorescence upon receiving the excitation light emitted from the excitation light source, the fluorescence being used as illumination light; and a light projecting section for projecting the fluorescence emitted by the light emitting section, a part of the light projecting section being provided above an excitation light irradiated surface of the light emitting section, the excitation light irradiated surface being an upper surface of the light emitting section, and the upper surface having a larger area than a side surface of the light emitting section, the excitation light irradiated surface of the light emitting section being a flat surface and receiving the excitation light and emitting most of the fluorescence, the light emitting section having a thickness that is not more than one-tenth of a maximum width among widths of the light emitting section, the widths being measured in a direction perpendicular to a thickness direction of the light emitting section, and the excitation light source being positioned off set from an optical axis of the light projection section and producing an incident angle of the excitation light with respect to the excitation light irradiated surface from 30° to 80°, the angle being measured from a direction perpendicular to the excitation light irradiated surface.