Patent ID: 6943850

Claim:
An optical apparatus for irradiating light emitted from a light source onto a predetermined object, comprising: a polarized light separating optical element for receiving the light beam emitted from the light source and for passing said light beam after being linearly polarized in a first direction and reflecting said light beam after being linearly polarized in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction; a phase shifter for converting said light beam that is linearly polarized in the first direction and passed from said polarized light separating optical element into substantially circularly polarized light; a reflecting mirror for reflecting said substantially circularly polarized light passed from said phase shifter back toward and through said phase shifter so that said circularly polarized light is linearly polarized in the second direction, wherein light emitted from said polarized light separating element, after having passed through said phase shifter, having been reflected by said reflecting mirror, and having passed back through said phase shifter is reflected by the polarized light separating optical element irradiated on said predetermined object; a light integrator positioned between said light source and said polarized light-separating optical element; and a condenser lens positioned between said polarized light separating optical element and said light integrator; wherein said predetermined object is a spatial light modulator, and an optical path length from said condenser lens to said spatial modulator is substantially equal to a focal length of said condenser lens so as to superimpose a central portion and a peripheral portion of said light emitted from the light source.