Patent ID: 8210684

Claim:
An illumination apparatus comprising: a light source configured to emit white light; a color separator configured to separate the white light emitted by the light source into a first color component light having a first wavelength band, a second color component light having a second wavelength band, and a third color component light having a third wavelength band; a first light valve configured to modulate the first color component light on the basis of a first input signal; a second light valve configured to modulate the second color component light on the basis of a second input signal; a third light valve configured to modulate the third color component light on the basis of a third input signal; a color combiner configured to combine the first color component light emitted from the first light valve, the second color component light emitted from the second light valve, and the third color component light emitted from the third light valve; and a polarization-state adjusting element provided on the light-incident-side of the second light valve, wherein the second wavelength band has a central-wavelength band, a short-wavelength band on the shorter wavelength side than the central-wavelength band, and a long-wavelength band on the longer wavelength side than the central-wavelength band, and the polarization-state adjusting element is configured to separately adjust a polarization state of light in the central-wavelength band and a polarization state of light in each of the short-wavelength band and the long-wavelength band.