Patent ID: 7703936

Claim:
An illumination device comprising: a reflection member; a light flux control member disposed along and separated from said reflection member; and a plurality of linear primary light sources disposed between said reflection member and said light flux control member parallel with each other at intervals, said light flux control member comprising: a back face directed to said reflection member in order to receive light from said primary light sources, and an emission face directed oppositely to said back face in order to cause said light received to be transmitted, deflected and emitted, and at least one of said back face and said emission face is provided with a plurality of curved recesses and curved surfaces, each of said curved recesses having a location corresponding to one of said primary light sources and extending in a longitudinal direction of said one of said primary light source, and said curved surfaces being located adjacent to said curved recesses and configured so as to cause said light flux control member to decrease in thickness away from said curved recesses, respectively, and each of said primary light sources being disposed so as to supply light including both first rays refracted at a corresponding curved recess and second rays refracted at corresponding curved surfaces adjacent thereto either on entering into said light flux control member or on being emitted from said emission face, and said second rays being more inclined with respect to a frontal direction as compared with said first rays.