Lighting unit

A lighting unit comprising:

• a light source unit having an emitter which has a transparent body with a refractive index n0 containing a light-emitting substance sealed in an empty region inside thereof, a housing that houses the emitter and has a reflector formed on its inner surface, and a transparent filler with a refractive index n1 filled in the housing;
• an optical waveguide made of a transparent substance with a refractive index n2 and having a light-emitting surface;
• a second reflector formed on the light-emitting surface and having a plurality of open ends;
• a second light source unit, wherein each light source unit is provided at an end of the optical waveguide,
• wherein a distance, w, between the light source units that corresponds to the length of the optical waveguide sandwiched between the light source units and a thickness, d, of the optical waveguide satisfy the requirement of 20×d<w<45×d.

A liquid crystal display with a liquid crystal sandwiched between a pair of two facing substrates, which comprises:

• a lighting unit comprising:
• a light source unit having an emitter which has a transparent body with a refractive index n0 containing a light-emitting substance sealed in an empty region inside thereof, a housing that houses the emitter and has reflector formed on an inner surface, and a transparent filler with a refractive index n1 filled in the housing;
• and
• an optical waveguide made of a transparent substance with a refractive index n2 and having a light-emitting surface;
• wherein the profile of the light-reflecting surface of the reflector satisfies the requirement of:
• |θ1−θ2<cos−1(1/n2),
• in which θ1 indicates the angle between the normal line nA at a point A on the surface and the tangential line 1 that tangentially connects the point A and the outline of the empty region, and
• θ2 indicates the angle between the line segment m that is parallel to the light-emitting surface and is in the plane formed by the normal line nA and the tangential line 1, and the normal line nA.

A lighting unit comprising:

• a plurality of optical waveguides disposed adjacent to a display panel surface to be illuminated;
• an emission tube disposed between the optical waveguides and nearer to the back surfaces of the optical waveguides than to the light-emitting surfaces thereof that face the display panel surface;
• and
• a reflector is disposed between the neighboring optical waveguides in the space between the display surface and the emission tube.

A lighting unit comprising:

• a plurality of optical waveguides disposed adjacent to a display panel surface to be illuminated;
• and
• an emission tube disposed between the optical waveguides and nearer to the back surfaces of the optical waveguides than to the light-emitting surfaces thereof that face the display panel surface;
• wherein a light-entering surface of each optical waveguide at an end meets the back surface thereof at an obtuse angle.

A liquid crystal display comprising a liquid crystal panel with liquid crystal sealed between two facing substrates, and a lighting unit disposed adjacent to the surface of the liquid crystal panel to be illuminated by the unit, wherein the lighting unit comprises:

• a plurality of optical waveguides disposed adjacent to a display panel surface to be illuminated;
• an emission tube disposed between the optical waveguides and nearer to the back surfaces of the optical waveguides than to the light-emitting surfaces thereof that face the display panel surface;
• and
• a reflector is disposed between the neighboring optical waveguides in the space between the display surface and the emission tube.

A liquid crystal display comprising a liquid crystal panel with liquid crystal sealed between two facing substrates, and a lighting unit disposed adjacent to the surface of the liquid crystal panel to be illuminated by the unit, wherein the lighting unit comprises:

• a plurality of optical waveguides disposed adjacent to a display panel surface to be illuminated;
• and
• an emission tube disposed between the optical waveguides and nearer to the back surfaces of the optical waveguides than to the light-emitting surfaces thereof that face the display panel surface;
• wherein a light-entering surface of each optical waveguide at an end meets the back surface thereof at an obtuse angle.

A liquid crystal display with a liquid crystal sandwiched between a pair of two facing substrates, which comprises:

• a lighting unit comprising:
• a light source unit having an emitter which has a transparent body with a refractive index n0 containing a light-emitting substance sealed in an empty region inside thereof, a housing that houses the emitter and has a reflector formed on an inner surface, a transparent filler with a refractive index n1 filled in the housing, and an optical path-changing device disposed in the transparent filler for changing an optical path;
• and
• an optical waveguide made of a transparent substance with a refractive index n2 and having a light-emitting surface.

A liquid crystal display with a liquid crystal sandwiched between a pair of two facing substrates, which comprises:

• a lighting unit comprising:
• a light source unit having an emitter which has a transparent body with a refractive index n0 containing a light-emitting substance sealed in an empty region inside thereof, a housing that houses the emitter and has a reflector formed on its inner surface, and a transparent filler with a refractive index n1 filled in the housing;
• an optical waveguide made of a transparent substance with a refractive index n2 and having a light-emitting surface;
• and
• a second reflector formed on the light-emitting surface and having a plurality of open ends;
• a second light source unit, wherein each light source unit is provided at an end of the optical waveguide,
• wherein a distance, w, between the light source units that corresponds to the length of the optical waveguide sandwiched between the light source units and a thickness, d, of the optical waveguide satisfy the requirement of 20×d<w<45×d.