The present disclosure relates to an illuminator that emits out illumination light including a laser beam, and a display unit that carries out an image display using such illumination light.
An optical module, which is one of main components of a projector (projection-type display unit), is generally composed of an illuminating optical system (illuminator) including a light source and a projecting optical system (projection optical system) including an optical modulation element. In recent years, in the field of such a projector, a small-sized (palm size) and lightweight portable projector called a microprojector has begun to come into wide use. In the past, for this microprojector, an LED (Light Emitting Diode) has been mainly utilized as a light source for an illuminator.
Meanwhile, a laser has recently drawn attention as a new light source for an illuminator. For example, a projector utilizing a gas laser has been known in the past as a projector using a laser beam of three primary colors including red (R), green (G), and blue (B). As described above, a projector utilizing a laser as a light source is proposed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-301164. Use of a laser as a light source allows to achieve a projector with a wide color reproduction range and a reduced power consumption.