Patent ID: 7156520

Claim:
A color separating-combining optical system comprising: a separating optical system which separates illumination light into a first color spectrum and a second color spectrum; a combining optical system which combines said first color spectrum and said second color spectrum; a first polarization separating optical system with a first polarization separating surface, which reflects said first color spectrum from said separating optical system to a first image display element, and transmits said first color spectrum from said first image display element to said combining optical system; and a second polarization separating optical system with a second polarization separating surface, which reflects said second color spectrum from said separating optical system to a second image display element, and transmits said second color spectrum from said second image display element to said combining optical system, wherein a degree of linear polarization of said first color spectrum reflected by said first polarization separating surface is higher than a degree of linear polarization of said second color spectrum reflected by said second polarization separating surface.