Reflective liquid crystal projection apparatus

A reflective liquid crystal projection apparatus comprising:

• a light source;
• a means for polarizing incident light and for making first polarized light out of light emitted from the light source pass through;
• a reflective liquid crystal element optically modulating the first polarized light passed through the means for polarizing incident light into second polarized light and reflecting the second polarized light;
• a means for polarizing reflected light and for making the second polarized light reflected by the reflective liquid crystal element pass through;
• and
• a phase difference compensating plate disposed between the reflective liquid crystal element and the means for polarizing incident light and reflected light in a light path of the light emitted from the light source,
• the reflective liquid crystal projection apparatus projecting a picture image formed in the reflective liquid crystal element by the second polarized light passing through the means for polarizing reflected light, and
• the reflective liquid crystal projection apparatus is further characterized in that the phase difference compensating plate has a refractive index difference, which generates a phase difference larger than another phase difference generated by an applied voltage that is used for displaying black state, in a plane parallel direction and a phase difference in the plane parallel direction larger than another refractive index in the thickness direction.

A reflective liquid crystal projection apparatus comprising:

• a light source;
• a means for polarizing incident light and for making first polarized light out of light emitted from the light source pass through;
• a reflective liquid crystal element optically modulating the first polarized light passed through the means for polarizing incident light into second polarized light and reflecting the second polarized light;
• a means for polarizing reflected light and for making the second polarized light reflected by the reflective liquid crystal element pass through;
• and
• a phase difference compensating plate disposed between the reflective liquid crystal element and the means for polarizing incident light and reflected light in a light path of the light emitted from the light source,
• the reflective liquid crystal projection apparatus projecting a picture image formed in the reflective liquid crystal element by the second polarized light passing through the means for polarizing reflected light, and
• the reflective liquid crystal projection apparatus is further characterized in that the phase difference compensating plate conducts the circular polarization or the elliptical polarization, and a phase difference of the phase difference compensating plate is within a range of more than a phase difference generated in the reflective liquid crystal element and less than λ/4, wherein λ is a center wavelength of the light incident into the phase difference compensating plate.