To provide a depolarizing element which realizes miniaturization of the element and improvement in temperature stability.
The depolarizing element converts polarized light into non-polarized light, and is provided with: a conversion medium 1 with optical anisotropy; an incident means (polarization maintaining optical fiber 3) for making the polarized light incident on the conversion medium 1 so that the incident light is included in a plane normal to the optical axis direction in the conversion medium 1 and is made incident on the medium from a direction oblique to the normal line direction of the incident plane 1a; and reflection layers 2a, 2b for reflecting the light propagated through the conversion medium 1 to return it almost in the shape of a letter V, and the polarized light made incident on the conversion medium 1 is separated into two optical components differing in polarization, and the two optical components are reflected two or more times different from each other by the reflection layers 2a, 3b and propagated through the conversion medium 1 while returning almost in the shape of a letter V, thereafter, the components are made to exit from the conversion medium at a position P where the optical paths of the two optical components are superimposed on each other.
KUME SEIJI
OYOKODEN LAB CO LTD
Tadashi Takahashi
Takashi Watanabe
Masakazu Aoyama
Suzuki Mitsuyoshi
Kazuya Nishi
Yasuhiko Murayama