Illumination device and projector

Abstract

An illumination device includes: a light emitting element that includes an active layer, a first clad layer and a second clad layer with the active layer interposed therebetween, and a first gain region and a second gain region generating light when a current flows through the active layer; a control unit that operates the light emitting element so that light is alternately generated in the first gain region and the second gain region; and a first lens to which light emitted from a first light emitting portion of the first gain region and light emitted from a second light emitting portion of the second gain region are incident, wherein the light emitted from the first light emitting portion and the light emitted from the second light emitting portion are emitted in the same direction and are incident to the first lens.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.