To produce a polarized light transforming element of high transmissivity for display which can be used for a large area display of 100×100 mm or more and can be used with thickness of ≤1 mm.

The polarized light transforming element has a double refractive layer for separating incident light to P polarized light and S polarized light and a modulation means for modulating a polarization direction of any one among the P polarized light and the S polarized light to make both polarizing directions coincident with each other. Further the double refractive layer in the polarized light transforming element is constituted of aligned liquid crystals and directs the P polarized light and the S polarized light in the same direction at the outgoing side of the double refractive layer. Thereby thickness of the whole element can be made thin and incident light can be emitted after polarization transformation with very high efficiency. Moreover the S polarized light among the whole incident light can be emitted after transformation to the P polarized light with very little loss.