Patent ID: 7815314

Claim:
An illumination apparatus comprising: a red light valve configured to modulate red component light according to a red input signal; a green light valve configured to modulate green component light according to a green input signal; a blue light valve configured to modulate blue component light according to a blue input signal; a polarization adjustment element configured to adjust polarization of fourth color component light; and a color combiner configured to combine light emitted from the red light valve, the green light valve and the blue light valve, wherein, a superimposed component light which is any one of the red component light, the green component light and the blue component light enters the polarization adjustment element together with the fourth color component light, and the polarization adjustment element transmits the superimposed component light without adjusting the polarization, and transmits the fourth color component light with adjusting the polarization, and the superimposed component light and the fourth color component light emitted from the polarization adjustment element enter a specific light valve corresponding to the superimposed component light, among the red light valve, the green light valve and the blue light valve.