Patent ID: 7224661

Claim:
A wave plate constituted by laminating a first wave plate having a phase difference τ 1 (deg.) and an optical axis azimuth θ 1 (deg.), and a second wave plate having a phase difference τ 2 (deg.) and an optical axis azimuth θ 2 (deg.), wherein when the phase difference τ 1 (deg.) of the first wave plate and the phase difference τ 2 (deg.) of the second wave plate are set to 360n+180 (n=0, 1, 2 . . . ), and an angle formed by polarization planes of incident light and emitted light is θ (deg.), the first wave plate and the second wave plate are laminated so as to satisfy θ 1 =(90+θ/2)/2 and θ 2 =θ 1 +90+θ/2.