Patent ID: 7267443

Claim:
A projector, comprising: three light-modulating elements respectively illuminated with illumination-light components of three colors, each light-modulating element independently modulating the illumination-light component of the corresponding color; a light-synthesizing member including first to fourth triangular prism elements, each having a first, second, and third side surface, and a pair of dichroic mirrors disposed along the first and second side surfaces of the first to fourth prism elements, the modulated-light components of the three colors from the three light-modulating elements respectively entering the third side surfaces of the first to third prism elements, and the modulated-light components of the three colors being synthesized to form image light, the image light being emitted from the third side surface of the fourth prism element; and an optical projecting unit to project the image light synthesized via the light-synthesizing member, one or two of the first to fourth prism elements having a refractive index or refractive indexes different from a refractive index or refractive indexes of remaining prism elements, the remaining prism elements having a same refractive index.