JP2003255299A - Optical path deflecting element, optical path deflecting element unit and image display device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve alignment stability of an entire liquid crystal layer even when the liquid crystal layer is made thick, to prevent the occurrence of a turbid state due to flowage or defects near the center in the thickness direction of the liquid crystal layer and to prevent decrease in transmittance or malfunction of deflection. <P>SOLUTION: The deflecting element comprises a pair of transparent substrates 11, 12 and a liquid crystal layer 15 comprising a chiral smectic C phase with homeotropic alignment and filling the space between the substrates 11, 12. An electric field is applied by electrodes 14 on the liquid crystal layer 15 in the plane direction of the substrates 11, 12 so as to deflect the optical path of the light transmitting through the liquid crystal layer 15. A substrate 17 is inserted to divide the liquid crystal layer 15 into a plurality of layers in the thickness direction of the substrates 11, 12. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical deflecting element and an optical deflecting element unit for changing the direction of light by an electric signal,
Also, the present invention relates to an image display device using the light deflecting element or the light deflecting element unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Such an optical path deflecting element deflects the optical path of light by an electric signal from the outside, that is, shifts outgoing light parallel to incident light, or rotates it at a certain angle, or An optical element for switching the optical path by combining the two.

As an optical path deflector using a liquid crystal material,
Conventionally, the following has been proposed.

First, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-18940,
A light beam shifter including an artificial birefringent plate has been proposed for the purpose of reducing the loss of light in the optical space switch.

As pixel shift elements, the techniques disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2939826, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-324320 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-193925 are known.

The pixel shift element mentioned here includes an image display element in which a plurality of pixels capable of controlling light according to at least image information are two-dimensionally arranged, a light source for illuminating the image display element, and an image display element. An optical member for observing the displayed image pattern, and an optical path deflecting element for deflecting an optical path between the image display element and the optical member for each of a plurality of subfields obtained by temporally dividing the image field are provided. Used as an optical path deflecting element in an image display device that displays an image pattern in which the display position is shifted according to the deflection of the optical path for each image, thereby multiplying the apparent number of pixels of the image display element. Is a device that will be used.

In this specification, the magnitude of the shift is called "shift amount" for the optical path deflection by the parallel shift, and the rotation amount is called "rotation angle" for the optical path deflection by the rotation. To do.

[0008]

However, in the conventional pixel shift element, since the structure is complicated, the manufacturing cost is high, the device becomes large, and the light amount loss,
In view of the problems that there is much optical noise, the present applicant has solved these problems, has a simple configuration, has a low manufacturing cost, can downsize the device, and has an optical path with little light quantity loss and optical noise. A deflection element is proposed.

That is, in Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-12479 (filed on January 22, 2002, unpublished at the time of this application), a pair of transparent substrates and a chiral homeotropic alignment filled between the substrates are provided. An optical path deflecting element is proposed, which includes a liquid crystal layer made of a smectic C phase and an electrode for applying an electric field to the liquid crystal.

Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-287907 (filed on September 20, 2001, unpublished at the time of this application)
In such an optical deflection element, a plurality of electrode line groups arranged substantially parallel to the desired optical path shift direction are provided, and the voltage value applied to each electrode line at a certain time is changed stepwise. We have proposed an optical path deflector that is set to a value.

In these techniques proposed by the present applicant, a liquid crystal layer made of a chiral smectic C phase having homeotropic alignment is used as a birefringent plate, so that the optical path is deflected depending on the optical axis tilt angle and the thickness of the liquid crystal layer. The amount will be determined. Therefore, in order to set a large optical path deflection amount, it is necessary to increase the thickness of the liquid crystal layer.

However, in this case, when the distance between the two transparent substrates sandwiching the liquid crystal layer is enlarged to make the liquid crystal layer thicker, the alignment property in the central portion of the liquid crystal layer is likely to be disturbed, and However, there is a problem that the liquid crystal layer is likely to become cloudy.

The object of the present invention is to increase the thickness of the liquid crystal layer,
Alignment stability of the entire liquid crystal layer is improved, white turbidity due to flow and defects occurring near the center of the liquid crystal layer in the thickness direction can be prevented, and reduction in transmittance and defective deflection operation can be prevented. Is to be able to.

[0014]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pair of transparent first substrates, a liquid crystal layer filled between the substrates and comprising a chiral smectic C phase having homeotropic alignment. A pair of first electrodes for deflecting an optical path of light passing through the liquid crystal layer by applying an electric field to the liquid crystal layer in the plate surface direction of the first substrate, and the liquid crystal layer having a plate thickness of the first substrate. And a transparent second substrate that is divided into a plurality of parts in the direction.

Therefore, the second substrate can give an alignment regulating force to the inside of the liquid crystal layer, so that even if the liquid crystal layer is thickened, the alignment stability of the entire liquid crystal layer is improved and the thickness of the liquid crystal layer is increased. It is possible to prevent the occurrence of the clouding phenomenon due to the flow and the occurrence of defects near the center of the direction, and it is possible to prevent the decrease in the transmittance and the defective deflection operation.

According to a second aspect of the invention, in the invention of the first aspect, a vertical alignment film is provided on at least one surface of the second substrate.

Therefore, since the vertical alignment film is also provided on the surface of the second substrate, the vertical alignment state can be easily maintained even inside the liquid crystal layer, which causes deterioration of the alignment such as impact from the outside. Even if there is, it is possible to reliably maintain high light utilization efficiency.

The invention described in claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2.
In the invention described in paragraph 1, between the pair of first electrodes is a plurality of linear electrodes having a length direction in a plate surface direction of the first substrate and a direction orthogonal to the first inter-electrode direction. Second electrodes for applying an electric field to the liquid crystal layer are provided at intervals.

Therefore, by applying a desired potential such as a stepwise voltage to each second electrode, a desired potential distribution can be formed inside the liquid crystal layer, and even when the optical path region is wide, the first potential distribution can be obtained. Since a uniform electric field distribution can be given in the surface direction of the substrate, it is possible to improve the light utilization efficiency and improve the uniformity of the optical path deflection amount.

If the second electrode is a transparent electrode, the light transmittance is improved, the light utilization efficiency is high, and the entire optical path can be deflected relatively uniformly.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, in the third aspect of the invention, the second electrode is formed on the surface of the second substrate, and the second electrode and the liquid crystal are formed. A dielectric is formed between the layers.

Therefore, even when the potential distribution becomes non-uniform near the second electrode and the optical path shift amount becomes non-uniform near the second electrode, the first dielectric in the liquid crystal layer is formed by the dielectric. Since the electric potential distribution in the plane direction of the substrate becomes dull, a uniform electric field distribution can be given and the light utilization efficiency can be improved.
The amount of optical path deflection can be made more uniform.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, a resistor extending along the liquid crystal layer in the direction between the pair of first electrodes is formed. Has been done.

Therefore, even if the effective area of the optical path deflecting element is large and the amount of optical path deflection is large, if a voltage is applied to the resistor in the direction between the first electrodes, the plane in the liquid crystal layer can be relatively simple. It is possible to make the electric field strength in the direction uniform and obtain a uniform optical path deflection effect.

According to a sixth aspect of the invention, in the fifth aspect of the invention, the resistor also serves as the second substrate.

Therefore, the structure of the optical path deflecting element can be simplified, the optical characteristics such as the transmittance can be improved, and the amount of optical path deflection can be made more uniform.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, the polarization direction control is performed so that the polarization direction of the light incident on the liquid crystal layer coincides with the polarization direction of the optical path. Equipped with elements.

Therefore, when the polarization direction of the optical path, that is, when an electric field is applied to the liquid crystal layer, only light having a polarization direction parallel to the tilt direction of the liquid crystal molecules can be made incident on the liquid crystal layer, so that undeflected light is generated. Can be prevented, and reliable optical path deflection can be realized.

The invention described in claim 8 is provided with two optical path deflecting elements according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
The two optical path deflecting elements are arranged in series in a light incident direction so that the normal direction of the liquid crystal layer substantially coincides with each other and the direction between the pair of first electrodes is orthogonal to each other, An optical path deflecting element unit is provided between both the optical path deflecting elements, and a polarization rotating element that rotates the polarization direction by 90 ° with respect to the outgoing light of the optical path deflecting element located on the front side of the incident direction of the light.

Therefore, it is possible to surely perform the optical path deflection in the two-dimensional direction by using the two optical path deflecting elements.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, an image display element that spatially modulates illumination light based on image information and emits it as image light, and each pixel of the image display element in synchronization with the image display element. 8. The optical path deflecting element according to claim 1, wherein the optical path of the image light incident from the device is deflected to multiply and display the apparent number of pixels of the image display element. And an optical path deflecting element unit according to claim 1.

Therefore, it is possible to provide an image display device having the same operation and effect as the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

[0033]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an outline of an image display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG.
Reference numeral 1 is a light source for illumination, and any kind or type of light source can be used as long as it can turn on or off white light or light of any color at high speed. For example, LED lamp or laser light source, or
A white lamp light source or the like may be arranged in a two-dimensional array, and a combination of such a light source and a shutter that operates at high speed may be used as a light source for illumination.

Reference numeral 2 is an illuminating device for uniformly irradiating the image display element 3 with the light emitted from the light source.
a, a condenser lens 2b, and the like.

Reference numeral 3 is an image display element that spatially modulates the uniform illumination light incident from the illumination device 2 based on image information and emits it as image light. As the image display element 3, a transmissive liquid crystal light valve, a reflective liquid crystal light valve, a DMD element or the like can be used.

Reference numeral 4 is an optical path deflecting element which deflects the optical path of the image light emitted from the image display element 3 and emits it as deflected image light. The image display position projected on the screen 6 is shifted according to the deflection amount of the optical path by the optical path deflecting element 4, and the actual pixel number of the image display element 3 is displayed as an apparently multiplied pixel number. You can

Reference numerals 5 and 6 are optical members for observing the image pattern displayed on the image display element 3, reference numeral 5 is a projection lens, and reference numeral 6 is a screen. further,
Reference numeral 7 is a light source drive circuit for driving the light source 1,
Reference numeral 8 is a display drive circuit for driving the image display element 3, and reference numeral 9 is an optical deflection drive circuit for driving the optical path deflection element 4. Further, reference numeral 10 is an image display control circuit for controlling the entire image display device including the light source drive circuit 7, the display drive circuit 8, the optical path deflection drive circuit 9, and the like.

Next, the basic operation of the image display device shown in FIG. 1 will be described.

The light emitted from the light source 1 under the control of the light source drive circuit 7 becomes illumination light uniformized by the diffusion plate 2a, and the display drive circuit operated in synchronization with the light source drive circuit 7 by the condenser lens 2b. The image display element 3 controlled by 8 is illuminated critically. here,
As an example of the image display element 3, a transmissive liquid crystal panel, that is, a transmissive liquid crystal light valve is used. The illumination light spatially light-modulated by the image display element 3 including a transmissive liquid crystal light valve is incident on the optical path deflecting element 4 as image light, and the emitted light emitted from the optical path deflecting element 4 is projected as deflected image light. After being magnified by the lens 5, the screen 6
Projected on. That is, by the optical path deflecting element 4 arranged on the image light emitting side of the image display element 3 formed of a transmissive liquid crystal light valve, the image light is arranged in pixels according to the drive signal from the optical path deflection drive circuit 9. Is emitted as deflected image light that is shifted (deflected) by an arbitrary distance in the direction, and is projected onto the screen 6 through the projection lens 5 (the optical path deflecting element 4, the pixel shift direction in the screen 6, (Illustrated in FIG. 1).

Here, the optical path deflecting element 4 synchronizes with the image display element 3 to deflect the optical path for each of a plurality of subfields obtained by temporally dividing the image field, and the image pattern in a state where the display position is displaced. Is displayed, the apparent number of pixels of the image display element 3 is multiplied and displayed.
In this way, the shift amount by the optical path deflecting element 4 is set to ½ of the pixel pitch because the image multiplication is performed twice in the pixel arrangement direction of the image display element 3. Then, by correcting the image signal that drives the image display element 3 by the shift amount according to the shift amount of the pixel, an apparently high-definition image can be displayed.

Next, the optical path deflecting element 4 which is an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

First, FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a cross section of a liquid crystal panel portion showing an example of the optical path deflecting element 4. Figure 2
, The optical path deflecting element 4 is a first substrate,
A pair of transparent substrates 11 and 12 are provided so as to face each other. Glass, quartz, plastic, or the like can be used for the substrates 11 and 12, but it is preferable to use a transparent material having no birefringence. The thickness of the substrates 11 and 12 is
For example, it is several tens of μm to several mm. Vertical alignment films 13 are formed on the inner surfaces of the substrates 11 and 12, respectively.
As the vertical alignment film 13, various materials can be used as long as they can perform homeotropic alignment of liquid crystal molecules with respect to the surfaces of the substrates 11 and 12. For example, a vertical alignment agent for liquid crystal displays and silane coupling. Agent, S
An iO ₂ vapor deposition film or the like can be used. The homeotropic alignment referred to in this specification includes not only a state in which liquid crystal molecules are vertically aligned with respect to the substrate surface but also an alignment state in which the liquid crystal molecules are tilted to about tens of degrees.

A constant distance is maintained between the substrates 11 and 12 with a spacer interposed therebetween, and a pair of electrodes 14 and a liquid crystal layer 15 are formed between the substrates 11 and 12. As the spacer, a sheet-shaped member having a thickness of about several μm to several mm or particles having a similar particle size is used, and it is desirable to provide the spacer outside the effective area of the optical path deflecting element 4. Electrode 14
Are provided on both sides of the substrates 11 and 12 in the plate surface direction, and the material thereof is a metal such as aluminum, copper or chromium, or IT.
A transparent electrode such as O can be used. Liquid crystal layer 1
In order to apply a uniform horizontal electric field in the electrode 5,
It is desirable to use a metal sheet having the same thickness as the liquid crystal layer 15, and it is provided outside the effective area of the optical path deflecting element 4. In the example of FIG. 2, the above-mentioned spacer is also used as the metal sheet-shaped electrode 14, and the thickness of the metal sheet-shaped electrode 14 defines the thickness of the liquid crystal layer 15. As the liquid crystal layer 15, liquid crystal capable of forming a smectic C phase is used. Then, by applying a voltage between the electrodes 14 and 14, the substrate 11 and the liquid crystal layer 15 are
An electric field is applied in the plate surface direction of 12.

Here, the liquid crystal layer 15 will be described in detail. The "smectic liquid crystal" is a liquid crystal layer in which the long axis direction of liquid crystal molecules is arranged in layers. Regarding such liquid crystal,
The liquid crystal in which the normal direction of the liquid crystal layer 15 (layer normal direction) and the long axis direction of the liquid crystal molecules are coincident with each other is referred to as "smectic A phase", and the liquid crystal which is not coincident with the normal direction is referred to as "smectic C phase". I'm calling.

The ferroelectric liquid crystal composed of the smectic C phase is
Generally, in a state in which an external electric field does not work, a liquid crystal director direction spirally rotates for each layer, that is, a so-called spiral structure is formed, which is called a “chiral smectic C phase”. Further, in the chiral smectic C reciprocal ferroelectric liquid crystal, the liquid crystal directors face each other in each layer. The liquid crystal composed of these chiral smectic C phases has an asymmetric carbon in the molecular structure and is spontaneously polarized by this, so that the liquid crystal molecules are rearranged in a direction determined by the spontaneous polarization Ps and the external electric field E. The optical properties are controlled. In this example, the optical path deflecting element 4 is described by taking a ferroelectric liquid crystal as the liquid crystal layer 15, but an antiferroelectric liquid crystal can also be used in the optical path deflecting element 4.

The chiral smectic C phase has an extremely high-speed responsivity as compared with the smectic A phase and nematic liquid crystal, and is characterized in that switching in the sub-ms order is possible. In particular, since the direction of the liquid crystal director is uniquely determined with respect to the direction of the electric field, the director direction is easier to control and easier to handle than liquid crystal composed of a smectic A phase.

The liquid crystal layer 15 made of the smectic C phase having homerotopic orientation has the operation of the liquid crystal director in the substrate 11 as compared with the case where the liquid crystal layer 15 has a homogeneous orientation (a state in which the liquid crystal director is oriented parallel to the substrate surface). , 12 is less likely to receive the restriction force, the control of the optical path deflection direction can be easily performed by adjusting the external electric field direction, and the required electric field is low. Further, when the liquid crystal director is homogeneously aligned, the liquid crystal director strongly depends not only on the direction of the electric field but also on the surface of the substrate, so that more positional accuracy is required for the installation of the optical path deflecting element 4. On the contrary, in the case of the homeotopic orientation as in this example, the setting margin of the optical path deflecting element 4 increases with respect to the light deflection. In order to make full use of these characteristics, it is not necessary to strictly orient the spiral axis perpendicular to the surfaces of the substrates 11 and 12, and it may be inclined to some extent. It suffices if the liquid crystal director can face two directions without receiving the restriction force from the substrates 11 and 12.

Next, the operating principle of the optical path deflecting element 4 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 schematically shows the alignment state of liquid crystal molecules in the optical path deflecting element 4 shown in FIG. 2, and the vertical alignment film 13 and the electrodes (spacers) 14 are omitted. FIG. 3 shows the case where a voltage is applied in the front and back direction of the paper for convenience, so that the electric field acts in the front and back direction of the paper. The electric field direction is switched by a power source (not shown in FIG. 3) in accordance with the desired light deflection direction. The incident light on the optical path deflecting element 4 is linearly polarized light.

As shown in FIG. 3 (a), when an electric field is applied to the front side of the paper surface, if the spontaneous polarization of the liquid crystal molecules 16 is positive, the number of molecules in which the liquid crystal director tilts to the upper right of the figure increases. The average optical axis of the liquid crystal layer 15 also functions as a birefringent plate by inclining in the upper right direction in the figure. Above the threshold electric field at which the helical structure of the chiral smectic C phase can be solved, all the liquid crystal directors exhibit the tilt angle θ, and the optical axis becomes a birefringent plate tilted upward by the angle θ. The linearly polarized light that enters from the left side as extraordinary light is parallel-shifted to the upper side. Here, when the refractive index in the major axis direction of the liquid crystal molecules is ne, the refractive index in the minor axis direction is no, and the thickness (gap) of the liquid crystal layer 15 is d, the shift amount S is represented by the following formula (details) For more information, see “Crystal Optics” Society of Applied Physics, Optics Forum, p19.
8 ”). S = [(1 / no) ² − (1 / ne) ² ] sin (2θ ・ d) ÷ [2 ((1 / ne) ² sin ² θ + (1 / no) ² cos ² θ )] …… (1)

Similarly, as shown in FIG. 2B, when the voltage applied to the electrode 14 is reversed and an electric field is applied to the back side of the paper, if the spontaneous polarization of the liquid crystal molecules 16 is positive, the liquid crystal director. Serves as a birefringent plate which is inclined to the lower right of the figure and whose optical axis is inclined downward at an angle θ. The linearly polarized light that enters from the left side as extraordinary light is parallel-shifted to the lower side. By reversing the direction of the electric field, an optical path deflection amount of 2S can be obtained.

By the way, in the optical path deflecting element 4 shown in FIG. 2, when a large optical path deflection amount is set, the liquid crystal layer 1 is used.
It is necessary to set the thickness of 5 large. However, when the liquid crystal layer 15 is thick, there is a problem that the alignment property in the vicinity of the center of the liquid crystal layer is likely to be deteriorated and the optical characteristics such as transmittance are likely to be deteriorated.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, the optical path deflecting element 4 is preferably provided with a transparent intermediate substrate 17 which divides the liquid crystal layer 15 in the thickness direction as a second substrate. Intermediate board 1
As the material of No. 7, glass, plastic or the like can be used, but a transparent material having no birefringence is desirable.
It is desirable that the thickness of the intermediate substrate 17 is thin in order to prevent deterioration of optical characteristics, but a thickness of several μm to several hundreds μm is desirable from the viewpoint of the manufacturing method of the substrate and the ease of handling.
By providing the intermediate substrate 17, the electrode 14 also serving as a spacer is divided into two electrodes 14a and 14b, and the liquid crystal layer 15 is also divided into two liquid crystal layers 15a and 15b, so that an electric field can be independently applied. It is configured to be applicable. The liquid crystal layers 15a and 15b may be in electrical contact with each other. The other components of the optical path deflecting element 4 of FIG. 4 are the same as those of the optical path deflecting element 4 of FIG. 2. Therefore, the same members as those of FIG. Is omitted.

According to the optical path deflecting element 4 of FIG. 4, the liquid crystal layer 1
Since the alignment regulating force from the surface of the substrate 17 can be applied to the inside of the liquid crystal 5, the alignment stability of the entire liquid crystal layer 15 is improved. Therefore, when the liquid crystal layer 15 is thick,
It is possible to prevent the occurrence of white turbidity due to flow and the occurrence of defects near the center of the layer, and it is possible to prevent a decrease in transmittance and defective deflection operation.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing another structural example of the optical path deflecting element 4. This example is different from the optical path deflecting element 4 of FIG. 4 in that the vertical alignment film 18a,
18b is formed. Vertical alignment film 18a,
As 18b, a vertical alignment film similar to the vertical alignment film 13 formed on the transparent substrates 11 and 12 described above can be used. Other points are common to the optical path deflecting element 4 in FIG. 5, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

According to the optical path deflecting element 4 of FIG. 5, since the vertical alignment film is also provided on the surface of the intermediate substrate 17, the liquid crystal layer 1 is formed.
Even in the inside of 5, it is easy to surely maintain the vertical alignment state.
Even if there is a factor that deteriorates the orientation such as an impact from the outside, it is possible to reliably maintain the high light utilization efficiency.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing another structural example of the optical path deflecting element 4. In this example, the difference from the optical path deflecting element 4 of FIG. 5 is that a plurality of line-shaped electrodes 19 arranged in parallel in the optical path deflecting direction at intervals are provided in a region including the optical path of the intermediate substrate 17, The deflection drive circuit 9 uses this electrode 1
9 is also configured to drive the liquid crystal layer 15. The electrode 19 has a lengthwise direction between the pair of left and right electrodes 14 and 14 in the plate surface direction of the substrates 11 and 12, and a direction orthogonal to the interelectrode 14 and 14 directions in the plate surface direction of the substrates 11 and 12. In this case, the alignment films 18a and 18b may be formed on the surface of the substrate 17 provided with the electrode lines 9. Other points are common to the optical path deflecting element 4 of FIG.
Detailed description is omitted.

In FIG. 6, eight electrodes 19 are provided as an example, and the light is applied from the electrode 19 closest to the electrode 14 at one end by the optical path deflection drive circuit 9. That is, the substrate 1
When voltages of +5 V and -5 V are alternately applied at a predetermined frequency by the power source 21 to the electrodes 14 located at both ends of the plate surfaces 1 and 12 in the plate surface direction, each of the electrodes 19 has +5 to −5 V.
Each voltage obtained by dividing the voltage of 5 V by the plurality of resistors 22 is applied. The means for applying a stepwise voltage to each electrode 19 is not limited to this configuration, and a configuration in which a plurality of power sources are directly connected to each electrode 19 may be used. Further, the number of electrodes 19, the line width, the line interval, the potential difference between the lines of each electrode 19, and the like can be appropriately set based on the desired optical path size, optical path deflection amount, and the like.

As described above, the electric potential is set by the line-shaped electrodes 1 arranged at a predetermined interval between the electrodes 14, 14 so that the liquid crystal layer 15 having a relatively wide width is forcibly desired. A potential gradient can be created. However, since the potentials are equal in the line width portion of the electrode 19, microscopically, a desired potential gradient is not obtained in the vicinity of the electrode 19 and the electric field distribution becomes non-uniform, so that the width of the electrode 19 is small. The narrower the better. The material of the electrode 19 has a line width of 1
It is desirable to use a metal thin wire that can be formed with a thinness of about μm.

According to such an optical path deflecting element 4, even if the effective area is relatively large, a relatively uniform horizontal electric field can be applied macroscopically to the entire surface of the optical path deflecting element 4, so that the optical path deflecting element 4 can be deflected. The amount can be uniform.

However, when the electrode 19 on the line is formed of metal, that portion is shielded from light, and the light utilization efficiency of the entire element is reduced. Therefore, it is desirable that each electrode 19 is formed of a transparent electrode material. I as a transparent electrode material
A TO film or the like can be used. In this case, the alignment film 18a may be provided on the surface of the substrate 17 on which the electrode 19 of the transparent electrode material is formed. Electrode 1 when using ITO film
It is desirable that the width of 9 is narrow, but when the electrode 19 is thinly processed, it may be cut off and the processing accuracy may become a problem. To reliably form fine lines, make the line width a few μm.
It is desirable to set the thickness to about m to 10 μm.

When the transparent electrode material is used for the electrode 19 as described above, the transmission light path is not blocked by the electrode 19, so that the light utilization efficiency of the device is improved.

When the distance between the electrodes 19 is relatively wide, the electrode 1
The potential between electrodes 9 and 19 may be smaller than the average value of the potential between electrodes 14 and 14. That is, the electrodes 19, 19
An electric field in the direction opposite to the desired electric field direction may be generated between them.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, a dielectric layer 23 may be provided on the surface of the intermediate substrate 17 of the optical path deflecting element 4 shown in FIG. 6 on which the electrode 19 is formed. In this case, the vertical alignment films 18a and 18b may be provided between the liquid crystal layer 15 and the intermediate substrate 17 and the dielectric layer 23. Dielectric layer 23
As the material, a highly transparent material such as glass or resin can be used, but a material having no birefringence is preferable. In addition, the vertical alignment film 18 is provided between the dielectric layer 23 and the liquid crystal layer 15.
When a and 18b are provided, it is desirable to use a material and a forming method that do not deteriorate the dielectric layer 23 when forming the vertical alignment films 18a and 18b. In particular, when the dielectric layer 23 and the vertical alignment films 18a and 18b are made of resin,
It is necessary to optimize both coating solvents and the like.

By thus providing the dielectric layer 23 between the surface of the substrate 17 on which the electrode 19 is formed and the liquid crystal layer 15, the discontinuous potential distribution applied to the electrode 19 becomes dull, and the liquid crystal layer 15 becomes dull.
The potential gradient in the plane direction inside becomes uniform. Therefore,
The electric field intensity distribution in the plane direction in the liquid crystal layer 15 becomes uniform, and a more uniform optical path deflection amount can be obtained in the entire area of the optical path deflecting element 4.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view showing another structural example of the optical path deflecting element 4. In this example, the difference from the optical path deflecting element 4 of FIG. 5 is that a transparent resistor layer 24 is provided on the surface of the intermediate substrate 17, as shown in FIG. The transparent resistor layer 24 extends along the liquid crystal layer 15 in the direction between the electrodes 14, 14. The same members as those of the optical path deflecting element 4 in FIG. 5 are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. In this case, a vertical alignment film may be provided between the transparent resistor layer 24 and the liquid crystal layer 15, but it is desirable that the electrode 14 and the transparent resistor layer 24 be electrically connected (see FIG. In the example of No. 8, the vertical alignment film is not formed at the contact portion between the transparent resistor layer 24 and the electrode 14). As the material of the transparent resistor layer 24, a resin dispersion film of conductive powder such as tin oxide or indium oxide or an ITO film can be used.

Conditions under which the amount of heat generated when energized is small
It is desirable to use. Here, the transparent resistor layer 24
Surface resistance of Rs (Ω /), distance between electrodes is a (cm),
If the pole length is b (cm), the entire transparent resistor layer 24 is
The resistance R (Ω) of is “R = a / b × Rs”. This resistance
When E (V) voltage is applied to the body, “E × E / R” power
Consume P (W). The current I (A) is “I = E / R”
Desired. The area of the transparent resistor layer 24 is “axb”
From the above, the consumption per unit area obtained by "P / (axb)"
Power consumption Pd (W / cm^Two) For predicting temperature rise
It becomes the characteristic value of. In this example, hundreds of volts per cm
Suppresses heat generation by applying a potential difference of several kilovolts from
Therefore, it is necessary to increase the resistance value. Unit area hit
Power consumption is 0.01 W / cm^TwoIf the temperature rises
Is suppressed to about 10 ° C. or less. For example, optical path deflector
The area of the liquid crystal layer 15 of No. 4 is 3 cm × 4 cm, and
Resistance value “Rs = 1 × 10⁸Ω / ", between electrodes 14 and 14
When the distance is 3 cm and the length of the electrode 14 is 4 cm,
The resistance value of the transparent resistor layer 24 is 1.33 × 10.⁸Become Ω
It If a voltage of 3000 V is applied during this 3 cm,
A current of 22.5 μA flows. At this time, the total is about 0.
07W, about 0.006W / cm per unit area ^TwoPower of
Consume. At this level, there is no practical problem with heat generation.

Therefore, the surface resistance value is 1 × 10 ⁸ Ω /
It is desirable to form the transparent resistor layer 24 having a high resistance equal to or higher than that. Considering the volume resistance value corresponding to this, when the film thickness of the resistor is 0.1 μm or more, 10 ³ Ωcm or more, when the film thickness is 1 μm, 10 ⁴ Ωcm or more, and when the film thickness is 10 μm, 10 ⁵ Ωcm. The above is desirable. As the transparent resistor having such a high resistance value, the same material as an antistatic paint can be used. At this time, the time constant of the resistor is a microsecond or less, which is a value that causes no practical problem in applications where the voltage is switched at a cycle of several hundred microseconds.

As described above, by applying a voltage to both ends of the transparent resistor layer 24 to energize it, a continuous potential gradient can be formed in the liquid crystal layer 15 near the surface of the transparent resistor layer 24. It is possible to provide a uniform electric field distribution in the horizontal direction of the liquid crystal layer 15 with a relatively simple structure.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing another structural example of the optical path deflecting element 4. In this example, the difference from the optical path deflecting element 4 of FIG. 8 is that the intermediate substrate 17 itself is formed of the transparent resistor layer 24, as shown in FIG. In this case, the vertical alignment film 1 is formed on the surface of the transparent resistor layer 24 (intermediate substrate 17).
Although 8a and 18b may be formed, the transparent resistor layer 24 is configured to be in contact with the electrodes 14 and 14. As the transparent resistor layer 24, a resin dispersion film of conductive powder such as tin oxide or indium oxide, or an organic semiconductor material used for an organic light emitting element or an organic transistor can be used. The electrical characteristics of the transparent resistor layer 24 are similar to those of the example described above with reference to FIG.

In this example, the structure of the optical path deflecting element 4 can be simplified and optical characteristics such as transmittance can be improved.

In the example of each optical path deflecting element 4 described above,
Only the linearly polarized light having a polarization direction parallel to the deflection direction of the optical path, that is, the tilt direction of the liquid crystal molecules 16 when an electric field is applied, undergoes the deflection of the optical path, and the linearly polarized light orthogonal to this linearly remains straight. Therefore, when non-polarized light is incident, the emitted light contains a component that is not deflected, so that the contrast with respect to the presence or absence of optical path deflection is reduced.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10, means may be provided for making the polarization direction of the light incident on the optical path deflecting element 4 coincident with the deflection direction of the optical path. In this example, a linear polarization plate 25 is provided as a polarization direction control element. The polarization direction of the linearly polarizing plate 25 is set parallel to the direction orthogonal to the direction between the electrodes 14, 14 (longitudinal direction of the electrodes 14, 19) and is installed on the incident surface side of the optical path deflecting element 4.

As a result, even if the incident light is unpolarized,
Since the light component that is not subjected to the optical path deflecting action due to the inclination of the liquid crystal molecules 16 is cut, it is possible to reliably perform the optical switching by the optical path deflection.

In the image display device, the optical path deflecting element unit 31 shown in FIG. 11 may be used instead of the optical path deflecting element 4 described above. FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration example of the optical path deflecting element unit 31. This optical path deflecting element unit 31 uses two of the optical path deflecting elements 4 described above with reference to FIGS.
a and 4b) and a half-wave plate 26 which is a polarization rotation element. In the example of FIG. 11, the alignment films 18a, 1a in the optical path deflecting elements 4a, 4b are arranged.
8b, the intermediate substrate 17 and the like are omitted from the drawing (note that
Reference numeral 32 is a power supply that supplies a voltage to each of the optical path deflecting elements 4a and 4b).

The optical path deflecting elements 4a and 4b include a pair of electrodes 1
By making the inter-electrode directions of 4 and 14 orthogonal to each other,
The liquid crystal layers 15 are arranged in series with respect to the light traveling direction so that the normal directions thereof are substantially the same. A polarization rotation element 1 is provided between these optical path deflecting elements 4a and 4b.
A half wave plate 26 is arranged. 1/2 wave plate 26
Can be applied as it is for a visible light that is generally used. As shown in FIG. 11, the light incident on the optical path deflecting element unit 31 has a polarization direction in the Z-axis direction, and the light is deflected in the vertical direction (Z-axis direction) in the optical path deflecting element 4a on the front side with respect to the light traveling direction. Direction), the polarization direction is rotated by 90 ° by the ½ wavelength plate 26 to be the polarization direction in the Y-axis direction, so that the optical path deflecting element 4b in the subsequent stage is in the left-right direction (Y-axis direction). Subject to bias.

Optical path deflecting element unit 3 having such a configuration
According to 1, the optical shift is performed at two positions in the vertical direction (Z-axis direction) in the optical path deflecting element 4a and at two positions in the horizontal direction (Y-axis direction) in the optical path deflecting element 4b. As a result, the light can be shifted to a total of 4 positions.

In this case, since the optical path deflecting element 4 of any one of the examples described above with reference to FIGS. 2 to 10 is used as the optical path deflecting elements 4a and 4b, the light utilization efficiency is improved and the light source is improved. A bright and high-quality image can be provided to the observer without increasing the load of 1. And
By performing the position control of the optical path deflection by the electric field application direction and the electric field intensity by the electrodes 14 and 14 in the optical path deflecting elements 4a and 4b, an appropriate pixel shift amount is held and a good image can be obtained.

[0079]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described.

[Example 1] First, a size of 3 cm x 4 c
silane coupling agent (Toray Dow Corning AY43-
No. 021) was used to form vertical alignment films 18a and 18b. The size of the intermediate substrate 17 is 3 cm × 4.
cm, and a cover glass having a thickness of 150 μm was used, and the vertical alignment films 18a and 18b were formed on both surfaces thereof.

Next, the thickness is 50 μm, the width is 1 mm, and the length is 3 c.
Two aluminum electrode sheets (electrodes 14) of m are used as spacers, and the intermediate substrate 17 is sandwiched between two glass substrates (substrates 11 and 12) having the vertical alignment films 13 and 13 formed on the inner surfaces, and the upper and lower sides are sandwiched. Two layers of 50 μm space were formed and laminated. The two aluminum electrode sheets in each space were parallel to each other, and the distance between them was 10 mm.

With this substrate heated to about 90 degrees, 2
Ferroelectric liquid crystal (CS102 made by Chisso
9) was injected by the capillary method. After cooling this, it was sealed with an adhesive, and an optical path deflecting element 4 having an effective area width of 10 mm was prepared by laminating two liquid crystal layers 15 as shown in FIG.

An opening 5 is formed on the incident surface side of the optical path deflecting element 4.
A mask pattern having a μm angle and a pitch of 20 μm was provided, and linearly polarized light was illuminated through this mask pattern. The direction of linearly polarized light was set to be the same as the longitudinal direction of the aluminum electrode sheet. The light that has passed through the mask pattern 2
It was observed under a microscope through the aluminum electrode sheet of the book.
As a result, the mask pattern was observed as it was when no electric field was applied. When one of the two aluminum electrode sheets is grounded and a rectangular wave AC voltage of ± 4000 V and a frequency of 60 Hz is applied to the other aluminum sheet using a pulse generator and a high-speed power amplifier, an opening pattern is formed in the center of the optical path deflecting element 4. It was observed by oscillating with a shift amount of about 14 μm in the longitudinal direction of the aluminum electrode sheet. Since the mask pattern, the optical path deflecting element 4, and the microscope are mechanically stationary, it was confirmed that the optical path is shifted electro-optically. Further, even after continuous operation for several hours, the transmittance of the optical path deflecting element 4 was high, and good optical path shifting operation could be maintained. About 1 from aluminum electrode sheet
At the end of the optical path deflecting element 4 with a distance of about mm, the shift amount was about 14 μm, and it was judged that the uniformity in the effective area of the element was not a practical problem.

However, when driven with a voltage of ± 2000 V, the shift amount is about 14 at the end of the optical path deflecting element 4.
However, the shift amount was reduced to about 6 μm at the central portion of the optical path deflecting element 4. It is considered that this is because the horizontally arranged aluminum electrode sheets have a relatively large distance, so that the electric field is concentrated in the vicinity of the aluminum electrode sheets and the effective electric field is small in the central portion of the optical path deflecting element 4. . If a sufficient voltage can be applied so that the shift amount is saturated even in a portion where the electric field is the smallest, as in the case of ± 4000 V, the shift amount can be uniform, but it is necessary to drive the voltage as low as possible. In this case, the nonuniformity of the shift amount becomes a problem.

As a comparative example, an optical path deflecting element 4 similar to that of the above-described Example 1 was prepared except that the intermediate substrate 17 was not used, the thickness of the aluminum electrode sheet was 100 μm, and one liquid crystal layer 15 was formed. . When a rectangular wave AC voltage having a frequency of ± 4000 V and a frequency of 60 Hz was applied to this, an opening pattern was observed oscillating in the longitudinal direction of the aluminum electrode sheet with a shift amount of about 14 μm in the central portion of the optical path deflecting element 4. However, the liquid crystal layer began to become cloudy when the liquid crystal layer was continuously operated for several tens of minutes, and the transmission image of the aperture pattern was blurred and the shift amount was reduced. It is considered that this is because the liquid crystal layer 15 is relatively thick, so that the alignment regulating force at the center of the liquid crystal layer 15 is weak, and the vertical alignment state collapses as the alignment direction switching operation is repeated.

Example 2 An ITO transparent electrode line group (electrode 19) was formed on one surface of a cover glass having a size of 3 cm × 4 cm and a thickness of 150 μm. This transparent electrode line has a thickness of 0.1 μm, a line width of 10 μm, a line pitch of 100 μm, and an effective length of the line of 2 cm, and the effective width of the optical path deflecting element 4 to be created is 10 mm.
The book is arranged. One end of the transparent electrode line was made large in width and pitch in order to obtain a contact from the power supply. The same cover glass was attached to the electrode forming surface of the cover glass to prepare a substrate in which transparent electrode lines were sandwiched inside the cover glass. An ultraviolet-curable adhesive for optical components was used to bond the cover glasses, and sticking of the transparent electrode line end portion to the contact portion was avoided.

Using this laminated substrate having a thickness of about 300 μm as the intermediate substrate 17, the liquid crystal layer 1 was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1.
An optical path deflecting element 4 having a total thickness of 5 and 100 μm and an effective width of 10 mm was prepared.

Opening 5 μm on the incident surface side of the optical path deflecting element 4
A mask pattern having a corner and a pitch of 20 μm was provided, and linearly polarized light was illuminated through this mask pattern. The direction of linearly polarized light was set to be the same as the longitudinal direction of the transparent electrode line. The light transmitted through the mask pattern was observed with a microscope through the formation region of the transparent electrode line group of the optical path deflecting element 4. When there was no electric field, the mask pattern was observed almost as it was, and the decrease in the transmittance of the transparent electrode line was at a practically acceptable level.

A conductive wire was connected to one end of 100 transparent electrode lines and connected between the resistors 22 connected in series as shown in FIG. The resistance value of each resistor 22 is set to 200 kΩ, and 101
The pieces were connected in series. Both ends of the series connection of the resistor 22 were connected to an aluminum electrode sheet (electrode 14) which also serves as a spacer. Using a pulse generator and a high-speed power amplifier at both ends of the series connection of the resistor 22, ± 2000V, frequency 60
When a rectangular wave AC voltage of Hz was applied, at a position 1 mm from both ends of the effective area of the optical path deflecting element 4 and at the center,
An equal optical path shift amount was obtained at about 9 μm. Further, even after continuous operation for several hours, the light transmittance of the optical path deflecting element 4 was high, and good optical path shifting operation could be maintained.

Example 3 An image display device as shown in FIG. 1 was produced. As the image display device 3, a diagonal 0.9 inch XGA (1024 × 768 dots) polysilicon TF
A T liquid crystal panel was used. The pixel pitch is approximately 18 in both vertical and horizontal directions.
μm. The pixel aperture ratio is about 50%. In addition, a microlens array is provided on the light source 1 side of the image display element 3 to increase the converging rate of the illumination light. In this embodiment,
A so-called field sequential method is adopted in which an LED light source of RGB three colors is used as the light source 1 and color display is performed by rapidly switching the colors of light applied to the above-mentioned one liquid crystal panel.

In this embodiment, the frame frequency for image display is 60 Hz, and the subfield frequency for pixel multiplication of 4 times by pixel shift is 4 times 240 Hz.
Since one sub-frame is divided into three colors,
The image corresponding to each color is switched at 720 Hz. By turning on and off the LED light source of the corresponding color in accordance with the display timing of the image of each color on the liquid crystal panel, the observer can see the full-color image.

The basic structure of the optical path deflecting element 4 is the same as that of the second embodiment, but two optical path deflecting elements 4 having the same structure are used to form the optical path deflecting element unit 31. The incident side is the optical path deflecting element 4a, and the emitting side is the optical path deflecting element 4b. These are arranged so that the directions of the transparent electrode lines are orthogonal to each other and coincide with the arrangement direction of the pixels of the image display element 3.

Further, a ½ wavelength plate 26 is provided between the optical path deflecting elements 4a and 4b. The half-wave plate 26 was prepared as follows. First, a thin glass substrate (3 cm x 4 c
m, thickness 0.15 mm) was spin-coated with a polyimide-based alignment material to form an alignment film of about 0.1 μm, and the glass substrate was annealed and then rubbed. An empty cell was manufactured by sandwiching a spacer having a thickness of 8 μm in the peripheral portion between two glass substrates and bonding the upper and lower substrates so that the rubbing directions were orthogonal to each other. A nematic liquid crystal having a positive dielectric anisotropy and a proper amount of a chiral material was injected into this cell under normal pressure, and the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules was twisted by 90 degrees.
An N liquid crystal cell was prepared and used as a half-wave plate 26. Since this cell has no electrode, it functions as a simple polarization rotation element.

The half-wave plate 26 is arranged between the two light-path deflecting elements 4a and 4b so that the polarization plane of the light emitted from the light-path deflecting element 4a and the rubbing direction of the incident surface of the half-wave plate 26 coincide with each other. It was placed across. The polarization plane of the light emitted from the optical path deflecting element 4a is rotated by 90 degrees by the half-wave plate 26,
It coincides with the deflection direction of the optical path deflecting element 4b.

The optical path deflecting element 4a and the half-wave plate 2
6. Optical path deflecting element unit 3 including optical path deflecting element 4b
1 was installed immediately after the liquid crystal light valve which is the image display element 3. Further, in this embodiment, the light emitted from the image display element 3 is already linearly polarized light, and the polarization direction is arranged so as to match the optical path deflection direction of the optical path deflecting element 4a. In order to ensure the polarization degree of the incident light, the linear polarizing plate 25 is provided on the incident surface side of the optical path deflecting element 4a.
Was set up.

The rectangular wave AC voltage for driving the optical path deflecting elements 4a and 4b is ± 2000 V and the frequency is 120 Hz, and the vertical and horizontal phases of the two optical path deflecting elements 4a and 4b are 90.
The drive timing was set so as to shift the pixels in four directions with a shift. Then, by rewriting the subfield image displayed on the image display element 3 at 240 Hz, a high-definition image in which the apparent number of pixels was multiplied by 4 in the vertical and horizontal directions could be displayed. The switching time of the optical path deflecting elements 4a and 4b was about 0.4 msec, and sufficient light utilization efficiency was obtained. No flicker was observed. Furthermore, good image contrast and sharpness could be maintained even after continuous operation for several hours.

[0097]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, even if the liquid crystal layer is thickened, the alignment stability of the entire liquid crystal layer is improved, and white turbidity occurs due to flow or defects near the center of the liquid crystal layer in the thickness direction. It is possible to prevent the occurrence of the phenomenon, and it is possible to prevent a decrease in transmittance and a defective deflection operation.

According to the invention described in claim 2, in the invention described in claim 1, the vertical alignment state can be easily maintained even inside the liquid crystal layer, and there is a factor that deteriorates the alignment property such as impact from the outside. Even if there is, it is possible to reliably maintain high light utilization efficiency.

The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2.
In the invention described in (1) above, a desired potential distribution can be formed inside the liquid crystal layer, and a uniform electric field distribution can be given in the surface direction of the first substrate even when the optical path region is wide. And the uniformity of the optical path deflection amount can be improved.

According to the invention described in claim 4, in the invention described in claim 3, the potential distribution becomes non-uniform near the second electrode and the optical path shift amount becomes non-uniform near the second electrode. Even in such a case, a uniform electric field distribution can be given to the liquid crystal layer, the light utilization efficiency can be improved, and the optical path deflection amount can be made more uniform.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, even if the effective area of the optical path deflecting element is large and the optical path deflection amount is large, a relatively simple structure is provided. Thus, the electric field strength in the plane direction in the liquid crystal layer can be made uniform, and a uniform optical path deflection effect can be obtained.

According to a sixth aspect of the invention, in the invention of the fifth aspect, the structure of the optical path deflecting element is simplified, the optical characteristics such as the transmittance are improved, and the optical path deflection amount is made more uniform. be able to.

According to the invention described in claim 7, in the invention described in any one of claims 1 to 6, it is possible to prevent generation of light which is not deflected in the liquid crystal layer and to realize reliable optical path deflection. .

According to the eighth aspect of the invention, it is possible to surely perform the optical path deflection in the two-dimensional direction by using the two optical path deflecting elements.

The invention described in claim 9 can provide an image display device having the same effect as that of the invention described in any one of claims 1 to 8.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of an image display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing an example of an optical path deflecting element included in the image display device.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an operation of an optical path deflecting element.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an optical path deflecting element that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of an optical path deflecting element according to another embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of an optical path deflecting element according to another embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of an optical path deflecting element according to another embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of an optical path deflecting element according to another embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of an optical path deflecting element according to another embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of an optical path deflecting element according to another embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of an optical path deflecting element unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 light source 3 image display device 4 Optical path deflector 4a Optical path deflecting element 4b Optical path deflecting element 11 First substrate 12 First substrate 14 First electrode 15 Liquid crystal layer 17 Second substrate 19 Second electrode 23 Dielectric 24 resistor 25 Polarization direction control element 26 Polarization rotator

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Yumi Matsuki             1-3-3 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stocks             Company Ricoh (72) Inventor Emura Nimura             1-3-3 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stocks             Company Ricoh (72) Inventor Masanori Kobayashi             1-3-3 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stocks             Company Ricoh (72) Inventor Yasuyuki Takiguchi             1-3-3 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stocks             Company Ricoh F-term (reference) 2H049 BA02 BA42 BB03 BB05 BC22                 2H088 EA45 EA47 GA04 GA17 HA01                       HA03 HA06 HA28 JA05 MA06                 2K002 AA07 AB04 BA06 CA14 EA14                       HA03

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A pair of transparent first substrates, a liquid crystal layer filled between the substrates and composed of a chiral smectic C phase having homeotropic alignment, and a plate surface of the first substrate with respect to the liquid crystal layer. A pair of first electrodes for deflecting the optical path of light passing through the liquid crystal layer by applying an electric field in the direction, and a transparent second substrate for dividing the liquid crystal layer into a plurality of pieces in the thickness direction of the first substrate. And an optical path deflecting element including. 2. The optical path deflecting element according to claim 1, wherein a vertical alignment film is provided on at least one surface of the second substrate. 3. A plurality of line-shaped electrodes between the pair of first electrodes, the plurality of line-shaped electrodes having a length direction in a plate surface direction of the first substrate and a direction orthogonal to the first inter-electrode direction. The optical path deflecting element according to claim 1, wherein the second electrodes for applying an electric field to the liquid crystal layer are provided at intervals. 4. The second electrode is formed on the surface of the second substrate, and a dielectric is formed between the second electrode and the liquid crystal layer. 3. The optical path deflecting element according to item 3. 5. A resistor body extending in the direction between the pair of first electrodes is formed along the liquid crystal layer.
4. The optical path deflecting element according to any one of 4 above. 6. The optical path deflecting element according to claim 5, wherein the resistor also serves as the second substrate. 7. The optical path deflecting element according to claim 1, further comprising a polarization direction control element that matches a polarization direction of light incident on the liquid crystal layer with a polarization direction of the optical path. 8. An optical path deflecting element according to claim 1, comprising two optical path deflecting elements, wherein the two optical path deflecting elements are arranged in series in a light incident direction and a normal direction of the liquid crystal layer is The optical path deflecting elements are arranged so as to be substantially coincident with each other and the directions between the pair of first electrodes are orthogonal to each other, and the optical path deflecting elements located between the both optical path deflecting elements are on the front side in the incident direction of the light. The polarization direction to the outgoing light of 90
An optical path deflecting element unit that includes a polarization rotating element that rotates by °. 9. An image display element which spatially modulates illumination light based on image information and emits it as image light, and image light which is synchronized with the image display element and enters from each pixel of the image display element. The optical path of the image display device is deflected to multiply the apparent number of pixels of the image display element for display.
9. The optical path deflecting element according to claim 7, or
And an optical path deflecting element unit according to claim 1.