Patent ID: 8496335

Claim:
A projector comprising: an illumination optical system; a light modulation element adapted to modulate a light beam from the illumination optical system; and a projection optical system adapted to project the light beam modulated by the light modulation element, wherein the illumination optical system includes a first light source section, a plurality of second light source sections including one second light source section and another second light source section, and an optical axis conversion element adapted to emit light beams, which are input from the first light source section and the plurality of second light source sections, in predetermined directions, respectively, the optical axis conversion element emits the light beam, which is input from the first light source section, so that an exit optical axis of the light beam approximately matches with an illumination optical axis, and emits the light beams, which are respectively input from the plurality of second light source sections, so that exit optical axes of the light beams intersect the exit optical axis of the light beam from the first light source section between the optical axis conversion element and the light modulation element, the exit optical axis of the light beam of the first light source section is disposed between an exit optical axis of the light beam of the one second light source section and an exit optical axis of the another second light source section, the optical axis conversion element having a first transmissive end plane disposed at a first end of the optical axis conversion element, a second transmissive end plane disposed at a second end of the optical axis conversion element opposite the first end, the first and second transmissive end planes being perpendicular to the illumination optical axis, and the first end having a smaller area than the second end, and an integrator optical system disposed between the optical axis conversion element and the light modulation element.