Patent ID: 8547639

Claim:
An optical element comprising: a substrate including a plurality of structures on a surface thereof, the structures being protrusions; and a hard coat layer formed on the substrate, wherein an irregular shape is formed by the structures on the surface of the substrate, an irregular shape resembling the irregular shape of the substrate is formed on a surface of the hard coat layer, the irregular shape of the surface of the hard coat layer is smoother than the irregular shape of the surface of the substrate, a size of bottoms of the structures changes at random within a range of a minimum distance R m or more and a maximum distance R M or less where the minimum distance R m is a minimum value of a shortest distance from a center of gravity of the bottom of the structure to a rim of the bottom and the maximum distance R M is a maximum value of a longest distance from a center of gravity of the bottom of the structure to the rim of the bottom, of the plurality of structures, neighboring structures have bottoms in contact or substantially in contact with one another, and the minimum distance R m and the maximum distance R M satisfy a relationship R m /R M ≦0.9.