Projection optical system and image projection apparatus

Abstract

A projection optical system and an image projection apparatus that are small in size and can achieve projection with a wide angle while a good image forming performance is assured includes a first lens group having a negative refracting power and a second lens group also having a negative refracting power. The first and second lens groups are arranged in order from the projection side. The first lens group includes a negative meniscus lens that has a concave surface directed to the projection side and formed as an aspherical reflecting surface.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a projection optical system and an image projection apparatus, and more particularly to a technique for a projection optical system and an image projection apparatus which achieves projection with a wide angle and with a good image forming performance and allows reduction in size.

In recent years, it is demanded to make it possible for a projection optical system to project an image with a widened angle. Where the projection optical system is applied to an image projection apparatus, widening of the angle makes it possible for a rear projection television set, that is, an apparatus which projects an image from the back of a transmission type screen so that the image may be enjoyed from the front, to project an image on a screen of an increased size while decreasing the distance between the screen and the projection optical system. Consequently, widening of the angle provides an advantage that miniaturization, particularly reduction in size in the depthwise direction, of the apparatus of the type described can be achieved. On the other hand, widening of the angle makes it possible for a front projector, that is, an apparatus which projects an image on a reflection type screen such that the image is enjoyed from the image projection apparatus side, to project an image on a screen of an increased size even at a place where a great distance cannot be assured between the screen and the image projection apparatus. Consequently, widening of the angle provides an advantage that the spatial restriction to the place for the watching the image is comparatively small.

As one of projection optical systems which have achieved widening of the angle, a projection optical system which includes a combination of an aspherical mirror and a diffractive optical system and another projection optical system which includes a combination of a plurality of aspherical and spherical mirrors are disclosed in the published Japanese translation of PCT international publication for a patent application No. W001/006295 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1). Meanwhile, another projection optical system which includes a combination of an aspherical mirror and a refractive optical system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-207168 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 2). A further projection optical system which includes four aspherical mirrors is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-177320 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 3).

Incidentally, in a projection optical system which includes a combination of a single aspherical mirror and a refractive optical system as in the conventional projection optical system described hereinabove, it is easy to eliminate the chromatic aberration and widen the angle when compared with an alternative apparatus which is composed only of a refractive optical system. On the other hand, since the single aspherical mirror takes charge of almost all of a diverging action, the aberration generation amount of the distortion, curvature of field and so forth is so great that it is inclined to deteriorate the picture quality. Therefore, in order to appropriately correct the distortion aberration or the curvature of field, the refracting power of the aspherical mirror must be made moderate (the radius of curvature must be increased), which increases the scale of the aspherical mirror and hence increases the space for arrangement of the aspherical mirror. This signifies that, where the projection optical system described is applied, for example, a rear projection television set, a large space is required for a lower portion or an upper portion of the screen.

On the other hand, a projection optical system which uses a plurality of aspherical mirrors does not include a configuration of a refractive optical system, and therefore, it does not cause color aberration in principle and does not involve absorption by a lens at all either. However, since the projection optical system includes only mirrors, it is very susceptible to an error upon production and much time is required for adjustment. Therefore, the projection optical system of the type described is not suitable for an optical system for which mass productivity is required such as general television sets. Further, with the projection optical system disclosed in Paten Document 3, since four mirrors are disposed in a vertical direction, it is physically difficult to lower a lower portion or an upper portion of the screen.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a projection optical system and an image projection apparatus which are small in size and can achieve projection with a wide angle while a good image forming performance is assured.

In order to attain the object described above, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a projection optical system of the retrofocus type, including a first lens group having a negative refracting power, and a second lens group having a negative refracting power, the first and second lens groups being arranged in order from the projection side, the first lens group including a negative meniscus lens which has a concave surface directed to the projection side and formed as an aspherical reflecting surface.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image projection apparatus, including an image formation section for forming an image, and a projection optical system for projecting the image formed by the image formation section, the projection optical system being of the retrofocus type which includes a first lens group having a negative refracting power and a second lens group having a negative refracting power, the first and second lens groups being arranged in order from the projection side, the first lens group including a negative meniscus lens which has a concave surface directed to the projection side and formed as an aspherical reflecting surface.

With the projection optical system and the image projection apparatus, an image of a high picture quality with regard to which various aberrations have been corrected satisfactorily can be projected with a wide angle. Further, the projection optical system and the image projection apparatus can be configured in a small size.

More particularly, in the projection optical system and the image projection apparatus, a reflecting surface which takes charge of the last stage of a projection action and plays a principal roll in widening of the projection angle is formed as an aspheric concave surface of a negative meniscus lens having a refractive index n (>1) such that a flux of light to be projected passes through a convex refracting surface of the negative meniscus lens before and after reflection by the reflecting surface of the negative meniscus lens. Consequently, if the total refracting power by the negative meniscus lens is set equal to the refracting power which depends only upon the reflecting surface, or in other words, if the diversion of a flux of light is set equal, the radius of curvature of the negative meniscus lens can be increased by an amount corresponding to the refractive index n. Therefore, where the wide angle is equal, the aberration generation amount can be reduced to approximately two thirds when compared with that by an alternative configuration wherein a flux of light at the last stage is diverged only by means of a mirror, and consequently, an image can be projected with a high picture quality with reduced distortion. Further, this makes it possible to achieve reduction of the diameter of the aspherical reflecting surface and reduce the sag amount, and consequently, miniaturization can be achieved.

Preferably, the projection optical system further includes a third lens group having a positive refracting power and a fourth lens group having a positive refracting power, the third and fourth lens groups being disposed in order toward the image side on the image side with respect to the second lens group, the first to fourth lens groups satisfying the conditional expressions (1) 0.02<f(all)·|φ1|<0.3, (2) 3.0<φ12/φ34<20, (3) −2.0<f(all)·φ12<−0.2, (4) 0.1<Tmax/T0<5.0 and (5) −30<kr<0, where f(all) is the focal length of the entire system, φ1 the refracting power of the first lens group, φ2 the refracting power of the second lens group, φ12 the composite refracting power of the first and second lens groups, φ34 the composite refracting power of the third and fourth lens groups, Tmax the thickness of the negative meniscus lens at a maximum image height in a direction parallel to an optical axis, T0 the thickness of the negative meniscus lens on the axis, and kr the aspheric conical constant of the reflecting surface. With the projection optical system, correction of various aberrations can be performed further satisfactorily. Particularly, correction of aberrations of the distortion and the curvature of field can be performed appropriately.

Preferably, the negative meniscus lens which composes the first lens group has an aspheric refracting surface and satisfies the conditional expression (6) −15.0<kt<15.0 where kt is the aspheric conical constant of the refracting surface. With the projection optical system, correction of the distortion aberration and the curvature of field can be performed further appropriately.

Preferably, the aspherical reflecting surface of the negative meniscus lens of the first lens group includes a term of an odd-numbered order which satisfies the conditional expression (7) 0.0<A3R<1.0×10⁻¹² where A3R is the third order aspheric coefficient of the reflecting surface of the negative meniscus lens. With the projection optical system, aberration correction of the distortion aberration, curvature of field and so forth is facilitated.

Preferably, the aspherical reflecting surface of the negative meniscus lens of the first lens group includes a term of an odd-numbered order which satisfies the conditional expression (8) 0.0<A3T<1.0×10⁻¹² where A3T is the third order aspheric coefficient of the refracting surface of the negative meniscus lens. Also with the projection optical system, aberration correction of the distortion aberration, curvature of field and so forth is facilitated.

Preferably, at least one of faces of a lens or lenses which compose the second lens group is formed from an aspheric surface. With the projection optical system, satisfactory aberration correction can be anticipated and the number of lenses can be reduced.

Alternatively, at least one of faces of a lens or lenses which compose the second lens group may be formed from an aspheric surface including a term of an odd-numbered order. Also with the projection optical system, satisfactory aberration correction can be anticipated and the number of lenses can be reduced.

Preferably, at least one of faces of a lens or lenses which compose the fourth lens group is formed from an aspheric surface. Also with the projection optical system, satisfactory aberration correction can be anticipated and the number of lenses can be reduced.

Preferably, the fourth lens group includes at least one positive lens which satisfies the conditional expressions (9) 0.7<ΔP<6.0 and (10) 60<ν(convex)<100 where ΔP={Θ−(0.6444−0.001689·ν(convex))}×100 and Θ=(ng−nF)/(nF−nC), where ν(convex) is the Abbe number of the positive lens at the d-line of the wavelength of 587.6 nm, ng the refractive index of the positive lens at the g-line of the wavelength of 435.84 nm, nF the refractive index of the positive lens at the F-line of the wavelength of 486.13 nm, and nC the refractive index of the positive lens at the C-line of the wavelength of 656.28 nm. With the projection optical system, correction of the color aberration can be performed satisfactorily.

Preferably, the projection optical system further includes a light path bending unit interposed between the first and second lens groups or at a suitable position on the image side with respect to the second lens group for bending the light path. With the projection optical system, reduction in size of the projection optical system in the depthwise direction can be anticipated.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like parts or elements denoted by like reference symbols.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a lens system of a projection optical system according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 2A to 2C are diagrammatic views illustrating a spherical aberration, astigmatism and distortion aberration of the lens system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a lens system of a projection optical system according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 4A to 4C are diagrammatic views illustrating a spherical aberration, astigmatism and distortion aberration of the lens system of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a lens system of a projection optical system according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 6A to 6C are diagrammatic views illustrating a spherical aberration, astigmatism and distortion aberration of the lens system of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing a lens system of a projection optical system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 8A to 8C are diagrammatic views illustrating a spherical aberration, astigmatism and distortion aberration of the lens system of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing a lens system of a projection optical system according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 10A to 10C are diagrammatic views illustrating a spherical aberration, astigmatism and distortion aberration of the lens system of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a schematic view showing a lens system of a projection optical system according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 12A to 12C are diagrammatic views illustrating a spherical aberration, astigmatism and distortion aberration of the lens system of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a schematic view showing a lens system of a projection optical system according to a seventh embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 14 to 14C are diagrammatic views illustrating a spherical aberration, astigmatism and distortion aberration of the lens system of FIG. 13;

FIG. 15 is a schematic view showing a lens system of a projection optical system according to an eighth embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 16A to 16C are diagrammatic views illustrating a spherical aberration, astigmatism and distortion aberration of the lens system of FIG. 15;

FIG. 17 is a schematic sectional view showing an image projection apparatus to which the present invention is applied;

FIG. 18 is a schematic view showing an image formation section of the image projection apparatus of FIG. 17; and

FIG. 19 is a schematic sectional view showing a modification to the image projection apparatus shown in FIG. 17.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following, the present invention is described in detail in connection with preferred embodiments thereof shown in the accompanying drawings.

A projection optical system of the present invention is formed as a projection optical system of the retrofocus type which includes a first lens group GR1 having a negative refracting power and a second lens group GR2 having a negative refracting power. The first and second lens groups GR1 and GR2 are arranged in order from the projection side. The first lens group GR1 includes a negative meniscus lens G1 which has a concave surface s3 directed to the projection side and formed as an aspherical reflecting surface.

As described hereinabove, widening of the angle of a conventional projection optical system which includes a combination of an aspherical mirror and a refracting optical system or includes a combination of a plurality of aspherical mirrors is achieved by providing most of a factor like a field compressor principally to one face of an aspherical mirror on the most projection side (object side). However, where the arrangement described is used, since the refracting power for widening the angle is taken charge of only by one reflecting surface, there is a tendency that the aberration generation amount of the distortion or the curvature of field is so great that it deteriorates the image quality.

According to the present invention, in order to suppress the aberration generation amount, the aspherical mirror on the projection side is replaced by the negative meniscus lens G1 having a refractive index n (>1) and the concave surface s3 having an aspheric surface is formed as a reflecting surface to overcome the problem of the conventional projection optical systems.

While the focal length f of the mirror is represented by f=−r/2, where it has the refractive index n and has a reflecting surface on the rear surface side thereof, the focal length f is f=−r/2n. In other words, if the refracting power of the reflecting surface is equal, then the radius r of curvature can be increased by an amount corresponding to the refractive index n. Consequently, also the aberration generation amount is reduced by approximately 2/3 when compared with that only the mirror is involved, and consequently, an optical system having a high picture quality with low distortion can be achieved. Further, this achieves reduction in diameter of the aspheric surface, and also reduction of the sag amount (in this instance, the height of the curved surface from an end portion of the mirror) can be anticipated. Thus, where the projection optical system of the present invention is applied, for example, to a rear projection television set, reduction in thickness of the rear production television set can be achieved.

The projection optical system of the present invention further includes a third lens group GR3 having a positive refracting power and a fourth lens group GR4 having a positive refracting power. The third and fourth lens groups GR3 and GR4 are disposed in order toward the image side on the image side with respect to the second lens group GR2. Where the focal length of the entire system is represented by f(all), the refracting power of the first lens group GR1 by φ1, the refracting power of the second lens group GR2 by φ2, the composite refracting power of the first and second lens groups GR1 and GR2 by φ12, the composite refracting power of the third and fourth lens groups GR3 and GR4 by φ34, the thickness of the negative meniscus lens at a maximum image height in a direction parallel to an optical axis by Tmax, the thickness of the negative meniscus lens G1 on the axis by T0, and the aspheric conical constant of the reflecting surface by kr, the first to fourth lens groups satisfy the following conditional expressions (1) to (5): 0.02<f(all)·|φ1|<0.3  (1) 3.0<φ12/φ34<20  (2) −2.0<f(all)·φ12<−0.2  (3) 0.1<Tmax/T0<5.0  (4) −30<kr<0  (5) so that correction of various aberrations can be performed further appropriately. Particularly, aberration correction of the distortion and the curvature of field can be performed appropriately. Accordingly, enhancement of the optical characteristics and miniaturization can be achieved satisfactorily.

The conditional expressions (1), (2) and (3) define appropriate ranges of the refracting power among the lens groups, and where the lower limits in the expressions (1), (2) and (3) are exceeded, while the aberration correction of the distortion, curvature of field and so forth are easy, increase in scale of the entire system is invited. On the other hand, where the upper limits are exceeded, the aberration generation amount becomes excessively great, and aberration correction particularly of the distortion, curvature of field and so forth becomes difficult.

The conditional expression (4) defines the difference between the thickness of the negative meniscus lens G1 of the first lens group GR1 on the axis and the thickness of the negative meniscus lens G1 at a maximum image height in a direction parallel to the optical axis, and if any of the upper and lower limits is exceeded, the difference in thickness becomes so great that it gives rise to difficulty in production. In order to further facilitate the production, preferably the thickness Tmax and the thickness T0 of the negative meniscus lens are set so as to be within the range of 0.1<Tmax/T0<2.5.

Preferably, the negative meniscus lens G1 which composes the first lens group GR1 has an aspheric refracting surface S2, S4 (although a single surface is involved, since a flux of light passes through the same twice, two reference characters are applied thereto) and satisfies, where the aspheric conical constant of the refracting surface is represented by kt, the following conditional expression: −15.0<kt<15.0  (6)

The conditional expression (6) defines an appropriate range of the aspheric shape of the refracting surface s2, s4 of the negative meniscus lens of the first lens group GR1 together with the conditional expression (5) given above. The conditional expression (5) signifies that, in regard to the lower limit direction, the curvature at a peripheral portion of the negative meniscus lens G1 becomes weak when compared with that at a portion in the proximity of the axis. Although this is effective to correction of the distortion aberration and so forth, if the lower limit value is exceeded, then a bad influence is had on the curvature of field and so forth. On the other hand, the conditional expression (5) signifies that, in retard to the upper limit direction, the curvature at a peripheral portion of the negative meniscus lens G1 becomes strong conversely when compared with that at a portion in the proximity of the axis. Then, if the upper limit value is exceeded, then correction of the distortion aberration becomes difficult. The conditional expression (6) has effects in the opposite direction to those of the conditional expression (5), and in the lower limit direction, the curvature at a peripheral portion of the negative meniscus lens G1 becomes weak when compared with that at a portion in the proximity of the axis. At this time, since a negative refracting power appears at the peripheral portion, when the lower limit value is exceeded, correction of the distortion aberration becomes difficult. In the upper limit direction, the curvature at a peripheral portion of the negative meniscus lens G1 becomes strong and a positive refracting factor appears, and this is effective to correction of the distortion aberration. However, if the upper limit value is exceeded, then a bad influence is had on the curvature of field and so forth.

Preferably, where the third order aspheric coefficient of the reflecting surface of the negative meniscus lens G1 is represented by A3R and the third order aspheric coefficient of the refracting surface of the negative meniscus lens G1 is represented by A3T, the aspherical reflecting surface of the negative meniscus lens G1 of the first lens group GR1 includes a term of an odd-numbered order which satisfies the conditional expression (7) or (8): 0.0<A3R<1.0×10⁻¹²  (7) 0.0<A3T<1.0×10⁻¹²  (8)

The expressions (7) and (8) define appropriate ranges of the aspheric coefficient of an odd-numbered order. Where third- and fifth-order terms are added to an aspheric coefficient, a term of the third order is added to an ordinary reflecting surface X (=a1−ρ⁻²+a2·ρ⁻⁴+ . . . , where ρ⁻²=Y⁻²+Z⁻²). In this instance, second-order and fourth-order aberrations appear. Aberration correction of the distortion aberration, curvature of field and so forth is facilitated by providing the aspheric coefficient appropriately. Where the lower limits in the expressions (7) and (8) are exceeded, aberration correction cannot be performed sufficiently. On the other hand, where the upper limits are exceeded, excessive correction of the distortion aberration is invited.

Preferably, at least one of faces of a lens or lenses which compose the second lens group GR2 and/or at least one of faces of a lens or lenses which compose the second lens group GR4 are formed from an aspheric surface. This makes it possible to perform aberration correction efficiently and reduce the number of lenses. It is to be noted that the aspheric surface may be an aspheric surface including a term of an odd-numbered order.

Preferably, where the Abbe number of the positive lens at the d-line of the wavelength of 587.6 nm is represented by ν(convex), the refractive index of the positive lens at the g-line of the wavelength of 435.84 nm by ng, the refractive index of the positive lens at the F-line of the wavelength of 486.13 nm by nF, and the refractive index of the positive lens at the C-line of the wavelength of 656.28 nm by nC, the fourth lens group GR4 includes at least one positive lens which satisfies the conditional expressions (9) and (10): 0.7<ΔP<6.0  (9) 60<ν(convex)<100   (10) where ΔP={Θ−(0.6444−0.001689·ν(convex))}×100 Θ=(ng−nF)/(nF−nC)

The conditional expression (9) defines the abnormal dispersion property of the lens material with respect to the g-line and the F-line quantitatively with ΔP as a deviation from a standard line obtained interconnecting partial dispersions of normal glasses (K7 and F2). More particularly, ΔP and Θ represent partial dispersion ratios of the g-line and the F-line by the used lens material, and 0.6444−0.001689·ν(convex) of ΔP represents a straight line interconnecting the partial dispersions of the normal glass. If the lower limit in the expression is exceeded, since the abnormal dispersion properties with respect to the g-line and the F-line decrease, the magnification chromatic aberration deteriorates. If the upper limit is exceeded, then although the abnormal dispersion property is sufficient, a material of the type described does not normally exist, and even if it is available, it is very expensive.

If the lower limit in the conditional expression (10) is exceeded, then the chromatic aberration on the axis deteriorates. If the upper limit is exceeded, then although correction of the chromatic aberration is sufficient, a material of the type described does not normally exist.

Now, the projection optical systems of the individual embodiments of the present invention and examples of numerical values used in the projection optical systems are described.

FIG. 1 shows a lens system of the projection optical system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the projection optical system 1 shown includes a first lens group GR1 composed of a negative meniscus lens G1 having a concave surface directed to the projection side, a second lens group GR2 having a negative refracting power, a third lens group GR3 having a positive refracting power and a fourth lens group GR4 having a positive refracting power, disposed in order from the projection side. Thus, the projection optical system 1 has a lens configuration of the four-group retrofocus type.

The concave surface (face on the projection side) s3 of the negative meniscus lens G1 which composes the first lens group GR1 is formed as a reflecting surface having an aspherical shape, and a convex surface (face on the image side) s2, s4 of the negative meniscus lens G1 is formed as a refracting surface of an aspherical shape. The second lens group GR2 includes a second lens G2 in the form of a negative meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side and another face on the image side which is formed as an aspheric surface, and a third lens G3 in the form of a negative lens. The second lens G2 and the third lens G3 are disposed in order from the projection side. The third lens group GR3 includes a fourth lens G4 in the form of a positive lens, a fifth lens G5 in the form of a positive lens, and a sixth lens G6 in the form of a positive meniscus lens convex to the projection side, disposed in order form the projection side. The fourth lens group GR4 includes a seventh lens G7 in the form of a negative lens having a face on the projection side formed as an aspheric surface, an eighth lens G8 in the form of a negative meniscus lens convex to the projection side, a ninth lens G9 in the form of a positive lens, a tenth lens G10 in the form of a negative lens, an eleventh lens G11 in the form of a positive lens, and a twelfth lens G12 in the form of a positive lens, disposed in order from the projection side.

In the present projection optical system 1, a large air gap is provided between the second lens group GR2 and the third lens group GR3. Therefore, a light path bending unit such as a prism can be interposed in the air gap. This makes it possible to reduce the depthwise dimension of the projection optical system 1.

A numerical value example 1 where the projection optical system 1 according to the first embodiment described above is embodied more particularly is indicated in Tables 1 to 4 and FIG. 2.

Table 1 indicates the radius of curvature, face distance, refractive index nd of the glass material at the d-line and Abbe number νd of the glass material at the d-line of each face together with the focal length “f(all)”, F number and image height “y′” of the overall system. It is to be noted that the numerical value example 1 supposes that the projection optical system 1 is applied to a projector, and the reflecting surface of a rear surface mirror Mr positioned between the first lens G1 and a screen is determined as a first face and the other faces are individually numbered in order along the light path toward the image side. Accordingly, since a flux of light passes through the face of the first lens G1 on the image side twice, two face numbers (2 and 4) are applied to the face. It is to be noted that the 27th to 30th faces are faces existing in an image formation section for forming an image to be projected on the screen by the projection optical system 1 and are listed for reference. Further, in Table 1, “INF” signifies a flat plane, and “※” in a column next to the column of the face number signifies that the face is an aspheric surface. Further, an iris is represented by the face number “STOP”.

TABLE 1
f(all) = 6.292
F number = 2.6
y′ = 14.0
				Radius of
Group	Lens	Si		curvature	Distance	nd	νd	Surface
		Object		INF	252.566
First Group		1		INF	−185.008			Reflection
	G1	2	※	−428.258	−15.000	1.49744	56.1
		3	※	−223.054	15.000	1.49744	56.1	Reflection
		4	※	−428.258	96.743
Second Group	G2	5		84.086	5.024	1.52510	56.3
		6	※	26.998	23.816
	G3	7		−114.999	2.945	1.84666	23.8
		8		62.868	84.694
Third Group	G4	9		645.654	7.709	1.83400	37.3
		10		−249.064	3.449
	G5	11		200.243	10.000	1.83400	37.3
		12		−1494.025	50.192
	G6	13		63.194	5.323	1.71300	53.9
		14		73.458	54.217
		STOP		INF	9.565
Fourth Group	G7	15	※	−112.377	1.166	1.80160	40.7
		16		113.837	0.398
	G8	17		35.191	3.325	1.80518	25.5
		18		32.692	2.729
	G9	19		49.957	13.519	1.49700	81.6
		20		−36.811	0.100
	G10	21		−213.919	7.251	1.80610	40.7
		22		51.043	3.021
	G11	23		68.827	11.799	1.49700	81.6
		24		−71.273	24.218
	G12	25		86.839	10.539	1.49700	81.6
		26		−72.559	5.000
		27		INF	35.500	1.51680	64.2
		28		INF	23.000	1.84666	23.8
		29		INF	1.000	1.46010	60.0
		30		INF	0.700	1.51680	64.2
※ Aspheric surface
※※ Aspheric surface including a term of an odd-numbered order

In the projection optical system 1 described above, the convex surface s2, s4 of the first lens G1 on the image side, the face (reflecting surface) s3 of the first lens G1 on the projection side, the face s6 of the second lens G2 on the image side and the face s15 of the seventh lens G7 on the projection side are formed as aspheric surfaces. Thus, the fourth-, sixth-, eighth- and tenth-order aspheric coefficients A4, A6, A8 and A10 of the faces in the numerical example 1 are indicated in Table 2 together with the conical constant “K”. It is to be noted that, in the present specification, an aspheric surface is defined by an Expression 1 given below, and where an aspheric surface includes a term of an odd-numbered order of the third order or the fifth order, it is defined by another Expression 2 given below. Further, in Table 2, “E-i” of the aspheric coefficient indicates “10-i”. X=(C·H{circumflex over ( )}2)/[1+{square root}{square root over ( )}{1−(1+k)·C{circumflex over ( )}2}]+A4·C{circumflex over ( )}4+A6·C{circumflex over ( )}6+A8·C{circumflex over ( )}8+ . . .   [Expression 1] where C is the reciprocal number to the radius of curvature, and H the distance in the heightwise direction from the optical axis. X=(C·H{circumflex over ( )}2)/[1+{square root}{square root over ( )} (1−(1+k)·C{circumflex over ( )}2·H{circumflex over ( )}2)]+A3·C{circumflex over ( )}3+A4·C{circumflex over ( )}4+A5·C{circumflex over ( )}5+A6·C{circumflex over ( )}6+A8·C{circumflex over ( )}8+ . . .  [Expression 2]

	TABLE 2
	K	A4	A6	A8	A10
S2, S4	2.96170	−2.21228E−08	1.19295E−12	−1.00952E−17
S3	−16.60312	−1.23716E−08	2.15739E−13	5.17424E−18	−1.41079E−22
S6	−1.79485	8.17503E−06	−2.46046E−09	2.68911E−12	−2.33695E−15
S15	0	−4.75118E−06	7.45378E−10	−2.22092E−11	5.37937E−14

Original data for the conditional expressions in the numerical value example 1 are illustrated in Table 3, and individual values relating to the original data are illustrated in Table 4.

TABLE 3
f(all) 6.292
φ1     −0.0108200
φ2     −0.0400366
φ12    −0.1045992
φ3     0.0103940
φ4     0.0166150
φ34    −0.0024484
T23    84.69400
Tmax   7.53102
T0     15.00000
TASr   −0.56637
TAS2   0.08877
SASr   −0.26402
SAS2   0.18982

where

• • f(all): focal length of the entire system
  • φ1: refracting power of the first lens group
  • φ2: refracting power of the second lens group
  • φ12: composite refracting power of the first and second lens groups
  • φ3: refracting power of the third lens group
  • φ4: refracting power of the fourth lens group
  • φ34: composite refracting power of the third and fourth lens groups
  • T23: distance between the second lens group and the third lens group
  • Tmax: thickness of the negative meniscus lens at a maximum image height in a direction parallel to the optical axis
  • T0: thickness of the negative meniscus lens on the axis
  • TASr: Seidel aberration of the tangential curvature of field generated by the reflecting surface s3
  • TAS2: Seidel aberration of the tangential curvature of field generated by the aspheric surface of the second lens G2
  • SASr: Seidel aberration of the sagittal curvature of field generated by the reflecting surface s3

SAS2: Seidel aberration of the sagittal curvature of field generated by the aspheric surface of the second lens G2

TABLE 4
f(all) · |φ1| 0.06808
φ1/φ2         0.27025
φ12/φ34       42.72145
|φ2|/T23      0.00124
fall · φ12    −0.65814
fall · φ34    −0.01541
Tmax/T0       0.50207
TAS2 + TASr   −0.47760
SAS2 + SASr   −0.07420
kr            −16.60312
kt            2.96170
kr/kt         −5.60594
A3R           (—)
A3T           (—)
A3(2)         (—)
ΔP            3.20(G9, G11, G12)
ν()           81.6(G9, G11, G12)
(—) represents absence of data

where

• • kr: aspheric conical constant of the reflecting surface of the negative meniscus lens
  • kt: aspheric conical constant of the refracting surface of the negative meniscus lens
  • A3R: third order aspheric coefficient of the reflecting surface of the negative meniscus lens
  • A3T: third order aspheric coefficient of the refracting surface of the negative meniscus lens
  • A3(2): third-order aspheric coefficient of the aspheric surface of the second lens group
  • ΔP={Θ0.6444−0.001689ν(convex))}×100
  • Θ=(ng−nF)/(nF−nC)
  • ν(convex): Abbe number of the positive lens of the fourth lens group at the d-line (587.6 nm)
  • ng: refractive index of the positive lens of the fourth lens group at the g-line (435.84 nm)
  • nF: refractive index of the positive lens of the fourth lens group at the F-line (486.13 nm)
  • nC: refractive index of the positive lens of the fourth lens group at the C-line (656.28 nm)

FIG. 2 illustrates the spherical aberration, astigmatism and distortion aberration of the numerical value example 1. It is to be noted that, in the diagram of the spherical aberration, a solid line indicates an aberration curve at the g-line (wavelength: 435.8 nm), a broken line indicates an aberration curve at the d-line (wavelength: 587.6 nm) and an alternate long and short dash line indicates an aberration curve at the C-line (wavelength: 656.3 nm). In the diagram of the astigmatism, a solid line indicates a sagittal image surface, and a broken line indicates a meridional image surface. According to the projection optical system of the present embodiment, the spherical aberration, astigmatism and distortion aberration are corrected satisfactorily.

FIG. 3 shows a lens system of the projection optical system 2 according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the projection optical system 2 shown includes a first lens group GR1 composed of a negative meniscus lens G1 having a concave surface directed to the projection side, a second lens group GR2 having a negative refracting power, a third lens group GR3 having a positive refracting power and a fourth lens group GR4 having a positive refracting power, disposed in order from the projection side. Thus, the projection optical system 2 has a lens configuration of the four-group retrofocus type.

The concave surface (surface on the projection side) s3 of the negative meniscus lens G1 which composes the first lens group GR1 is formed as a reflecting surface having an aspherical shape, and a convex surface (surface on the image side) s2, s4 of the negative meniscus lens G1 is formed as a refracting surface of an aspherical shape. The second lens group GR2 includes a second lens G2 in the form of a negative meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side and another surface on the image side which is formed as an aspheric surface, and a third lens G3 in the form of a negative lens. The second lens G2 and the third lens G3 are disposed in order from the projection side. The third lens group GR3 includes a fourth lens G4 in the form of a positive meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side, a fifth lens G5 in the form of a positive meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side and a positive lens G6, disposed in order form the projection side. The fourth lens group GR4 includes a seventh lens G7 in the form of a negative lens having a surface on the projection side formed as an aspheric surface, an eighth lens G8 in the form of a negative lens, a ninth lens G9 in the form of a positive lens, a tenth lens G10 in the form of a negative lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side, an eleventh lens G11 in the form of a positive lens, and a twelfth lens G12 in the form of a positive lens, disposed in order from the projection side.

In the present projection optical system 2, a large air gap is provided between the fifth lens G5 and the sixth lens G6 of the third lens group GR3. Therefore, a light path bending unit such as a prism can be interposed in the air gap. This makes it possible to reduce the depthwise dimension of the projection optical system 2.

A numerical value example 2 where the projection optical system 2 according to the second embodiment described above is embodied more particularly is indicated in Tables 5 to 8 and FIG. 4.

Table 5 indicates the radius of curvature, surface distance, refractive index nd of the glass material at the d-line and Abbe number νd of the glass material at the d-line of each surface together with the focal length “f(all)”, F number and image height “y′” of the overall system. It is to be noted that the numerical value example 2 supposes that the projection optical system 2 is applied to a projector, and the reflecting surface of a rear surface mirror Mr positioned between the first lens G1 and a screen is determined as a first face and the other faces are individually numbered in order along the light path toward the image side. Accordingly, since a flux of light passes through the face of the first lens G1 on the image side twice, two face numbers (2 and 4) are applied to the face. It is to be noted that the 27th to 30th faces are faces existing in an image formation section for forming an image to be projected on the screen by the projection optical system 2 and are listed for reference. Further, in Table 5, “INF” signifies a flat plane, and “※” in a column next to the column of the face number signifies that the face is an aspheric surface. Further, an iris is represented by the face number “STOP”.

TABLE 5
f(all) = 6.100
F number = 2.6
y′ = 14.0
				Radius of
Group	Lens	Si		curvature	Distance	nd	νd	Surface
		Object		INF	261.251
First Group		1		INF	−160.000			Reflection
	G1	2	※	−420.456	−15.000	1.49744	56.1
		3	※	−195.142	15.000	1.49744	56.1	Reflection
		4	※	−420.456	169.096
Second Group	G2	5		264.203	2.967	1.52510	56.3
		6	※	29.646	19.851
	G3	7		−42.773	2.318	1.84666	23.8
		8		156.162	20.759
Third Group	G4	9		−299.067	19.069	1.83400	37.3
		10		−60.988	0.550
	G5	11		94.898	14.834	1.83400	37.3
		12		463.486	70.677
	G6	13		1354.292	25.988	1.71300	53.9
		14		−247.044	0.100
		STOP		INF	6.107
Fourth Group	G7	15	※	−1310.269	5.945	1.80160	40.7
		16		177.164	2.825
	G8	17		−149.539	2.559	1.80518	25.5
		18		165.530	0.507
	G9	19		61.961	8.767	1.49700	81.6
		20		−46.823	0.107
	G10	21		62.575	2.559	1.80610	40.7
		22		38.150	25.407
	G11	23		127.422	8.203	1.49700	81.6
		24		−91.242	0.107
	G12	25		121.089	9.268	1.49700	81.6
		26		−76.718	5.000
		27		INF	35.500	1.51680	64.2
		28		INF	23.000	1.84666	23.8
		29		INF	1.000	1.46010	60.0
		30		INF	0.700	1.51680	64.2
※ Aspheric surface
※※ Aspheric surface including a term of an odd-numbered order

In the projection optical system 2 described above, the convex surface s2, s4 of the first lens G1 on the image side, the face (reflecting surface) s3 of the first lens G1 on the projection side, the face s6 of the second lens G2 on the image side and the face s15 of the seventh lens G7 on the projection side are formed as aspheric surfaces. Thus, the fourth-, sixth-, eighth- and tenth-order aspheric coefficients A4, A6, A8 and A10 of the faces in the numerical example 2 are indicated in Table 6 together with the conical constant “K”.

	TABLE 6
	K	A4	A6	A8	A10
S2, S4	1.87674	6.66165E−09	2.85628E−13	−2.54281E−18
S3	−12.16085	−1.38944E−09	1.06919E−13	−3.09915E−19	−2.48671E−23
S6	−0.74094	3.96352E−06	−1.87065E−09	4.54798E−12	−4.09213E−15
S15	−28164.26895	−5.04107E−06	1.33506E−08	−8.17436E−11	1.94347E−13

Original data for the conditional expressions in the numerical value example 2 are illustrated in Table 7, and individual values relating to the original data are illustrated in Table 8.

TABLE 7
f(all) 6.100
φ1     −0.0126474
φ2     −0.0488949
φ12    −0.1801119
φ3     0.0163294
φ4     0.0184797
φ34    −0.0139721
T23    20.75900
Tmax   16.20000
T0     15.00000
TASr   −0.69595
TAS2   0.88658
SASr   −0.31798
SAS2   0.44145

TABLE 8
f(all) · |φ1| 0.07715
φ1/φ2         0.25867
φ12/φ34       12.89083
|φ2|/T23      0.00868
fall · φ12    −1.09868
fall · φ34    −0.08523
Tmax/T0       1.08000
TAS2 + TASr   0.19063
SAS2 + SASr   0.12347
kr            −12.16085
kt            1.87674
kr/kt         −6.47977
A3R           (—)
A3T           (—)
A3(2)         (—)
ΔP            3.20(G9, G11, G12)
ν()           81.6(G9, G11, G12)

FIG. 4 illustrates the spherical aberration, astigmatism and distortion aberration of the numerical value example 2. It is to be noted that, in the diagram of the spherical aberration, a solid line indicates an aberration curve at the g-line (wavelength: 435.8 nm), a broken line indicates an aberration curve at the d-line (wavelength: 587.6 nm) and an alternate long and short dash line indicates an aberration curve at the C-line (wavelength: 656.3 nm). In the diagram of the astigmatism, a solid line indicates a sagittal image surface, and a broken line indicates a meridional image surface.

FIG. 5 shows a lens system of the projection optical system 3 according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the projection optical system 3 shown includes a first lens group GR1 composed of a negative meniscus lens G1 having a concave surface directed to the projection side, a second lens group GR2 having a negative refracting power, a third lens group GR3 having a positive refracting power and a fourth lens group GR4 having a positive refracting power, disposed in order from the projection side. Thus, the projection optical system 3 has a lens configuration of the four-group retrofocus type.

The concave surface (face on the projection side) s3 of the negative meniscus lens G1 which composes the first lens group GR1 is formed as a reflecting surface having an aspherical shape, and a convex surface (face on the image side) s2, s4 of the negative meniscus lens G1 is formed as a refracting surface of an aspherical shape. The second lens group GR2 includes a second lens G2 in the form of a negative meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side, a third lens G3 in the form of a negative meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side and having a face on the image side formed as an aspheric surface, a fourth lens G4 in the form of a negative lens, and a fifth lens G5 in the form of a positive meniscus lens having a concave surface directed to the projection side. The second to fifth lenses G2 to G5 are disposed in order from the projection side. The third lens group GR3 includes a sixth lens G6 in the form of a positive lens, a seventh lens G7 in the form of a positive meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side, an eighth lens G8 in the form of a negative lens and a ninth lens G9 in the form of a positive lens, disposed in order form the projection side. The fourth lens group GR4 includes a tenth lens G10 in the form of a positive meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side, an eleventh lens G11 in the form of a negative lens, a twelfth lens G12 in the form of a positive lens, a thirteenth lens G13 in the form of a negative meniscus lens having a concave surface directed to the projection side, a fourteenth lens G14 in the form of a positive lens, and a fifteenth lens G15 in the form of a positive lens, disposed in order from the projection side.

A numerical value example 3 where the projection optical system 3 according to the third embodiment described above is embodied more particularly is indicated in Tables 9 to 12 and FIG. 6.

Table 9 indicates the radius of curvature, face distance, refractive index nd of the glass material at the d-line and Abbe number νd of the glass material at the d-line of each face together with the focal length “f(all)”, F number and image height “y′” of the overall system. It is to be noted that the numerical value example 3 supposes that the projection optical system 3 is applied to a projector, and the reflecting surface of a rear surface mirror Mr positioned between the first lens G1 and a screen is determined as a first face and the other faces are individually numbered in order along the light path toward the image side. Accordingly, since a flux of light passes through the face of the first lens G1 on the image side twice, two face numbers (2 and 4) are applied to the face. It is to be noted that the 33rd to 36th faces are faces existing in an image formation section for forming an image to be projected on the screen by the projection optical system 3 and are listed for reference. Further, in Table 9, “INF” signifies a flat plane, and “※” in a column next to the column of the face number signifies that the face is an aspheric surface. Further, an iris is represented by the face number “STOP”.

TABLE 9
f(all) = 3.750
F number = 2.6
y′ = 14.0
				Radius of
Group	Lens	Si		curvature	Distance	nd	νd	Surface
		Object		INF	164.747
		1		INF	−70.000			Reflection
First Group	G1	2	※	−284.477	−15.000	1.52510	56.3
		3	※	−155.966	15.000	1.52510	56.3	Reflection
		4	※	−284.477	248.228
Second Group	G2	5		80.393	25.553	1.80880	28.0
		6		63.116	5.387
	G3	7		88.008	8.000	1.52510	56.3
		8	※	28.726	24.884
	G4	9		−57.864	4.265	1.79860	22.6
		10		114.962	12.058
	G5	11		−88.666	14.704	1.74803	44.5
		12		−76.468	8.148
Third Group	G6	13		377.996	15.750	1.66051	55.4
		14		−86.287	0.480
	G7	15		77.164	16.800	1.80338	23.1
		16	※	203.307	11.248
	G8	17		−606.795	10.241	1.69260	37.4
		18		62.373	5.648
	G9	19		83.384	26.116	1.50225	60.7
		20		−131.790	45.778
		STOP		INF	4.107
Fourth Group	G10	21		76.485	3.227	1.79798	22.6
		22		629.432	5.795
	G11	23		−151.115	2.559	1.67012	28.5
		24		45.100	4.314
	G12	25		624.500	8.767	1.49700	81.6
		26		−21.779	0.500
	G13	27		21.910	2.559	1.80610	40.7
		28		−40.996	15.533
	G14	29		251.996	8.203	1.49700	81.6
		30		−64.418	0.107
	G15	31		84.897	9.268	1.49700	81.6
		32		−89.681	12.000
		33		INF	27.000	1.84666	23.8
		34		INF	21.000	1.84666	23.8
		35		INF	2.000	1.51680	64.2
※ Aspheric surface
※※ Aspheric surface including a term of an odd-numbered order

In the projection optical system 3 described above, the convex surface s2, s4 of the first lens G1 on the image side, the face (reflecting surface) s3 of the first lens G1 on the projection side and the face s8 of the third lens G3 on the image side are formed as aspheric surfaces. Thus, the fourth-, sixth-, eighth- and tenth-order aspheric coefficients A4, A6, A8 and A10 of the faces in the numerical example 3 are indicated in Table 10 together with the conical constant “K”.

	TABLE 10
	K	A4	A6	A8	A10
S2, S4	−5.36319
S3	−6.48508	2.00230E−10	5.78010E−15	−8.15674E−20	3.33126E−25
S8	−0.64048	2.27246E−06	−1.05266−09	1.78691E−12	−1.02877E−15

Original data for the conditional expressions in the numerical value example 3 are illustrated in Table 11, and individual values relating to the original data are illustrated in Table 12.

TABLE 11
f(all) 3.750
φ1     −0.0152286
φ2     −0.0280965
φ12    −0.1946875
φ3     0.0135709
φ4     0.0201089
φ34    −0.007716
T23    8.14800
Tmax   14.99992
T0     15.00000
TASr   −0.68194
TAS2   0.79244
SASr   −0.34220
SAS2   0.42792

TABLE 12
f(all) · |φ1| 0.05711
φ1/φ2         0.53068
|φ12|/φ3      14.34595
|φ2|/T23      0.02389
fall · φ12    −0.73008
fall · φ34    −0.02894
Tmax/T0       0.99999
TAS2 + TASr   0.11050
SAS2 + SASr   0.08572
kr            −6.48508
kt            −5.36319
kr/kt         1.20918
A3R           (—)
A3T           (—)
A3(2)         (—)
ΔP            3.20(G12, G14, G15)
ν()           81.6(G12, G14, G15)

FIG. 6 illustrates the spherical aberration, astigmatism and distortion aberration of the numerical value example 3. It is to be noted that, in the diagram of the spherical aberration, a solid line indicates an aberration curve at the g-line (wavelength: 435.8 nm), a broken line indicates an aberration curve at the d-line (wavelength: 587.6 nm) and an alternate long and short dash line indicates an aberration curve at the C-line (wavelength: 656.3 nm). In the diagram of the astigmatism, a solid line indicates a sagittal image surface, and a broken line indicates a meridional image surface. According to the projection optical system of the present embodiment, the spherical aberration, astigmatism and distortion aberration are corrected satisfactorily.

FIG. 7 shows a lens system of the projection optical system 4 according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 7, the projection optical system 4 shown includes a first lens group GR1 composed of a negative meniscus lens G1 having a concave surface directed to the projection side, a second lens group GR2 having a negative refracting power, a third lens group GR3 having a positive refracting power and a fourth lens group GR4 having a positive refracting power, disposed in order from the projection side. Further, a glass element G4 is interposed between the second lens group GR2 and the third lens group GR3. Thus, the projection optical system 4 has a lens configuration of the four-group retrofocus type.

The concave surface (face on the projection side) s3 of the negative meniscus lens G1 which composes the first lens group GR1 is formed as a reflecting surface having an aspherical shape, and a convex surface (face on the image side) s2, s4 of the negative meniscus lens G1 is formed as a refracting surface of an aspherical shape. The second lens group GR2 includes a second lens G2 in the form of a negative meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side and having a face on the image side formed as an aspheric surface and a third lens G3 in the form of a negative meniscus lens, disposed in order from the projection side. The third lens group GR3 includes a fifth lens G5 in the form of a positive lens, a sixth lens G6 in the form of a positive meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side, and a seventh lens G7 in the form of a positive meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side. The fifth to seventh lenses G5 to G7 are disposed in order from the projection side. The fourth lens group GR4 includes an eighth lens G8 in the form of a negative meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side and having a face on the projection side formed as an aspheric surface, a ninth lens G9 in the form of a negative lens, a tenth lens G10 in the form of a positive lens, an eleventh lens G11 in the form of a negative lens having a face on the image side as an aspheric surface, a twelfth lens G12 in the form of a positive lens, and a thirteenth lens G13 in the form of a positive lens, disposed in order from the projection side.

In the projection optical system 4 according to the present fourth embodiment, since the glass element G4 is interposed between the second lens group GR2 and the third lens group GR3, if a light path bending unit such as a prism is interposed in place of the glass element 4, then the light path can be bent. This makes it possible to reduce the depthwise dimension of the projection optical system 4, that is, the size of the projection optical system 4 in the projection direction. It is to be noted that the element for bending the light path to reduce the depthwise dimension of the projection optical system is not limited to a prism, but may be some other unit such as, for example, a mirror.

A numerical value example 4 where the projection optical system 4 according to the fourth embodiment described above is embodied more particularly is indicated in Tables 13 to 16 and FIG. 8.

Table 13 indicates the radius of curvature, face distance, refractive index nd of the glass material at the d-line and Abbe number νd of the glass material at the d-line of each face together with the focal length “f(all)”, F number and image height “y′” of the overall system. It is to be noted that the numerical value example 4 supposes that the projection optical system 4 is applied to a projector, and the reflecting surface of a rear surface mirror Mr positioned between the first lens G1 and a screen is determined as a first face and the other faces are individually numbered in order along the light path toward the image side. Accordingly, since a flux of light passes through the face of the first lens G1 on the image side twice, two face numbers (2 and 4) are applied to the face. It is to be noted that the 29th to 32nd faces are faces existing in an image formation section for forming an image to be projected on the screen by the projection optical system 4 and are listed for reference. Further, in Table 13, “INF” signifies a flat plane, and “※” in a column next to the column of the face number signifies that the face is an aspheric surface. Further, an iris is represented by the face number “STOP”.

TABLE 13
f(all) = 6.315
F number = 2.6
y′ = 14.0
				Radius of
Group	Lens	Si		curvature	Distance	Nd	νd	Surface
		Object		INF	272.425
		1		INF	−185.000			Reflection
First Group	G1	2	※	−264.535	−15.000	1.49744	56.1
		3	※	138.170	15.000	1.49744	56.1	Reflection
		4	※	−264.535	70.050
Second Group	G2	5		51.686	2.967	1.52510	56.3
		6	※	24.344	17.976
	G3	7		−96.936	2.318	1.84666	23.8
		8		46.115	6.948
	G4	9		INF	80.835	1.51680	64.200
		10		INF	0.195
Third Group	G5	11		262.123	28.100	1.83400	37.3
		12		−186.456	13.412
	G6	13		67.426	11.123	1.83400	37.3
		14		166.510	49.698
	G7	15		53.729	2.453	1.71300	53.9
		16		91.801	0.100
		STOP		INF	4.775
Fourth Group	G8	17	※	1577.829	5.945	1.80610	40.7
		18		88.332	2.825
	G9	19		−86.808	2.559	1.80518	25.5
		20		113.090	0.507
	G10	21		52.397	8.767	1.49700	81.6
		22		−28.340	0.107
	G11	23		−831.833	2.559	1.80610	40.7
		24		54.443	25.407
	G12	25		107.560	8.203	1.49700	81.6
		26		−97.807	0.107
	G13	27		125.792	9.268	1.49700	81.6
		28		−71.509	5.000
		29		INF	35.500	1.51680	64.2
		30		INF	23.000	1.84666	23.8
		31		INF	1.000	1.46010	60.0
		32		INF	0.700	1.51680	64.2
※ Aspheric surface
※※ Aspheric surface including a term of an odd-numbered order

In the projection optical system 4 described above, the convex surface s2, s4 of the first lens G1 on the image side, the face (reflecting surface) s3 of the first lens G1 on the projection side, the face s6 of the second lens G2 on the image side, the face s17 of the eighth lens G8 on the projection side and the face s24 of the eleventh lens G11 on the image side are formed as aspheric surfaces. Thus, the fourth-, sixth-, eighth- and tenth-order aspheric coefficients A4, A6, A8 and A10 of the faces in the numerical example 4 are indicated in Table 14 together with the conical constant “K”.

	TABLE 14
	K	A4	A6	A8	A10
S2, S4	1.75803	−6.15235E−08	5.75012E−12	−7.00202E−17
S3	−12.92508	−4.43591E−08	2.10720E−12	2.33211E−18	−1.25537E−21
S6	−1.45678	9.42139E−06	−3.72048E−10	3.67301E−12	−1.22045E−14
S17	0	−5.66947E−06	−2.90501E−09	−4.56290E−11	1.23761E−13
S24	1.608862	2.90817E−06	5.58643E−10	−7.51100E−12	3.30174E−14

Original data for the conditional expressions in the numerical value example 4 are illustrated in Table 15, and individual values relating to the original data are illustrated in Table 16.

TABLE 15
f(all) 6.315
φ1     −0.0170952
φ2     −0.0433833
φ12    −0.1307783
φ3     0.0146024
φ4     0.0175022
φ34    0.0002042
T23    60.43657
Tmax   8.00906
T0     15.00000
TASr   −0.89199
TAS2   0.14926
SASr   −0.41831
SAS2   0.22745

TABLE 16
f(all) · |φ1| 0.10796
φ1/φ2         0.39405
|φ12|/φ3      8.95595
|φ2|/T23      0.00216
fall · φ12    −0.82586
fall · φ34    0.00129
Tmax/T0       0.53394
TAS2 + TASr   −0.74273
SAS2 + SASr   −0.19085
kr            −12.92508
kt            1.75803
kr/kt         −7.35202
A3R           (—)
A3T           (—)
A3(2)         (—)
ΔP            3.20(G9, G11, G12)
Δ()           81.6(G9, G11, G12)

FIG. 8 illustrates the spherical aberration, astigmatism and distortion aberration of the numerical value example 4. It is to be noted that, in the diagram of the spherical aberration, a solid line indicates an aberration curve at the g-line (wavelength: 435.8 nm), a broken line indicates an aberration curve at the d-line (wavelength: 587.6 nm) and an alternate long and short dash line indicates an aberration curve at the C-line (wavelength: 656.3 nm). In the diagram of the astigmatism, a solid line indicates a sagittal image surface, and a broken line indicates a meridional image surface. According to the projection optical system of the present embodiment, the spherical aberration, astigmatism and distortion aberration are corrected satisfactorily.

FIG. 9 shows a lens system of the projection optical system 5 according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 9, the projection optical system 5 shown includes a first lens group GR1 composed of a negative meniscus lens G1 having a concave surface directed to the projection side, a second lens group GR2 having a negative refracting power, a third lens group GR3 having a positive refracting power and a fourth lens group GR4 having a positive refracting power, disposed in order from the projection side. Thus, the projection optical system 5 has a lens configuration of the four-group retrofocus type.

The concave surface (face on the projection side) s3 of the negative meniscus lens G1 which composes the first lens group GR1 is formed as a reflecting surface having an aspherical shape, and a convex surface (face on the image side) s2, s4 of the negative meniscus lens G1 is formed as a refracting surface of an aspherical shape. The second lens group GR2 includes a second lens G2 in the form of a positive meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side, a third lens G3 in the form of a negative meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side and having a face on the image side formed as an aspheric surface, a fourth lens G4 in the form of a negative lens, and a fifth lens G5 in the form of a negative meniscus lens having a concave surface directed to the projection side, disposed in order from the projection side. The third lens group GR3 includes a sixth lens G6 in the form of a positive lens, a seventh lens G7 in the form of a positive meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side, an eighth lens G8 in the form of a negative lens, and a ninth lens G9 in the form of a positive lens, disposed in order from the projection side. The fourth lens group GR4 includes a tenth lens G10 in the form of a negative meniscus lens having a concave surface directed to the projection side, an eleventh lens G11 in the form of a negative meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side, a twelfth lens G12 in the form of a positive meniscus lens having a concave surface directed to the projection side, a thirteenth lens G13 in the form of a negative meniscus lens having a concave surface directed to the projection side, a fourteenth lens G14 in the form of a positive lens, and a fifteenth lens G15 in the form of a positive lens, disposed in order from the projection side.

A numerical value example 5 where the projection optical system 5 according to the fifth embodiment described above is embodied more particularly is indicated in Tables 17 to 20 and FIG. 10.

Table 17 indicates the radius of curvature, face distance, refractive index nd of the glass material at the d-line and Abbe number νd of the glass material at the d-line of each face together with the focal length “f(all)”, F number and image height “y′” of the overall system. It is to be noted that the numerical value example 5 supposes that the projection optical system 5 is applied to a projector, and the reflecting surface of a rear surface mirror Mr positioned between the first lens G1 and a screen is determined as a first face and the other faces are individually numbered in order along the light path toward the image side. Accordingly, since a flux of light passes through the face of the first lens G1 on the image side twice, two face numbers (2 and 4) are applied to the face. It is to be noted that the 33rd to 36th faces are faces existing in an image formation section for forming an image to be projected on the screen by the projection optical system 5 and are listed for reference. Further, in Table 17, “INF” signifies a flat plane, and “※” in a column next to the column of the face number signifies that the face is an aspheric surface. Further, an iris is represented by the face number “STOP”.

TABLE 17
f(all) = 4.000
F number = 2.8
Y′ = 14.5
				Radius of
Group	Lens	Si		curvature	Distance	nd	νd	Surface
		Object		INF	161.120
		1		INF	−70.000			Reflection
First Group	G1	2	※	−666.778	−15.000	1.52510	56.3
		3	※	−239.728	15.000	1.52510	56.3	Reflection
		4	※	−666.778	510.571
Second Group	G2	5		71.960	31.000	1.84793	35.7
		6		100.575	0.700
	G3	7		93.726	8.000	1.52510	56.3
		8	※	30.358	22.248
	G4	9		−103.029	4.265	1.79850	22.6
		10		58.306	17.598
	G5	11		−44.330	14.800	1.74804	51.8
		12		−52.627	7.609
Third Group	G6	13		598.125	14.000	1.79149	46.1
		14		−135.161	13.772
	G7	15		86.164	16.800	1.77020	24.6
		16		290.784	15.490
	G8	17		−522.081	11.000	1.56202	42.6
		18		47.385	1.590
	G9	19		50.430	10.000	1.49864	68.9
		20		−90.566	31.670
		STOP		INF	4.107
Fourth Group	G10	21		−47.047	3.227	1.51212	65.8
		22		−76.775	1.509
	G11	23		57.904	2.559	1.57718	38.2
		24		36.179	9.880
	G12	25		−357.091	8.767	1.49700	81.6
		26		−22.139	0.500
	G13	27		−22.250	2.559	1.80610	40.7
		28		−43.625	11.202
	G14	29		375.797	8.203	1.49700	81.6
		30		−59.342	0.107
	G15	31		83.570	9.268	1.49700	81.6
		32		−85.370	12.000
		33		INF	27.000	1.84666	23.8
		34		INF	21.000	1.84666	23.8
		35		INF	2.000	1.51680	64.2
		36		INF	1.100	1.51680	64.2
※ Aspheric surface
※※ Aspheric surface including a term of an odd-numbered order

In the projection optical system 5 described above, the convex surface s2, s4 of the first lens G1 on the image side, the face (reflecting surface) s3 of the first lens G1 on the projection side, and the face s8 of the third lens G3 on the image side are formed as aspheric surfaces. Thus, the fourth-, sixth-, eighth- and tenth-order aspheric coefficients A4, A6, A8 and A10 of the faces in the numerical example 5 are indicated in Table 18 together with the conical constant “K”.

	TABLE 18
	K	A4	A6	A8	A10
S2, S4	−8.07721
S3	−8.07974	−3.67539E−10	7.47650E−15	−4.70348E−20	1.08528E−25
S8	−0.68911	2.73512E−06	1.11794E−09	3.68257E−13	1.66269E−15

Original data for the conditional expressions in the numerical value example 5 are illustrated in Table 19, and individual values relating to the original data are illustrated in Table 20.

TABLE 19
f(all) 4.000
φ1     −0.0109644
φ2     −0.0196815
φ12    −0.1586264
φ3     0.0135381
φ4     0.0220522
φ34    −0.0014364
T23    7.60900
Tmax   36.38923
T0     15.00000
TASr   −0.39787
TAS2   0.53319
SASr   −0.20109
SAS2   0.31967

TABLE 20
f(all) · |φ1| 0.04386
φ1/φ2         0.55709
|φ12|/φ3      11.71704
|φ2|/T23      0.02085
fall · φ12    −0.063451
fall · φ34    −0.00575
Tmax/T0       2.42595
TAS2 + TASr   0.13532
SAS2 + SASr   0.11858
kr            −8.07721
Kt            −8.07974
kr/kt         0.99969
A3R           (—)
A3T           (—)
A3(2)         (—)
ΔP            3.20(G9, G11, G12)
ν()           81.6(G9, G11, G12)

FIG. 10 illustrates the spherical aberration, astigmatism and distortion aberration of the numerical value example 5. It is to be noted that, in the diagram of the spherical aberration, a solid line indicates an aberration curve at the g-line (wavelength: 435.8 nm), a broken line indicates an aberration curve at the d-line (wavelength: 587.6 nm) and an alternate long and short dash line indicates an aberration curve at the C-line (wavelength: 656.3 nm). In the diagram of the astigmatism, a solid line indicates a sagittal image surface, and a broken line indicates a meridional image surface. According to the projection optical system of the present embodiment, the spherical aberration, astigmatism and distortion aberration are corrected satisfactorily.

FIG. 11 shows a lens system of the projection optical system 6 according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 11, the projection optical system 6 shown includes a first lens group GR1 composed of a negative meniscus lens G1 having a concave surface directed to the projection side, a second lens group GR2 having a negative refracting power, a third lens group GR3 having a positive refracting power and a fourth lens group GR4 having a positive refracting power, disposed in order from the projection side. Further, a glass element G4 is interposed between the second lens group GR2 and the third lens group GR3. Thus, the projection optical system 6 has a lens configuration of the four-group retrofocus type.

The concave surface (face on the projection side) s3 of the negative meniscus lens G1 which composes the first lens group GR1 is formed as a reflecting surface having an aspherical shape, and a convex surface (face on the image side) s2, s4 of the negative meniscus lens G1 is formed as a refracting surface of an aspherical shape. The second lens group GR2 includes a second lens G2 in the form of a negative meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side and having a face on the image side formed as an aspheric surface and a third lens G3 in the form of a negative meniscus lens, disposed in order from the projection side. The third lens group GR3 includes a fifth lens G5 in the form of a positive lens, a sixth lens G6 in the form of a positive meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side, and a seventh lens G7 in the form of a positive meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side. The fifth to seventh lenses G5 to G7 are disposed in order from the projection side. The fourth lens group GR4 includes an eighth lens G8 in the form of a negative lens having a face on the projection side as an aspheric surface, a ninth lens G9 in the form of a negative lens, a tenth lens G10 in the form of a positive lens, an eleventh lens G11 in the form of a negative lens having a face on the image side as an aspheric surface, a twelfth lens G12 in the form of a positive lens, and a thirteenth lens G13 in the form of a positive lens, disposed in order from the projection side.

In the projection optical system 6 according to the present sixth embodiment, since the glass element G4 is interposed between the second lens group GR2 and the third lens group GR3, if a light path bending unit such as a prism is interposed in place of the glass element 4, then the light path can be bent. This makes it possible to reduce the depthwise dimension of the projection optical system 6, that is, the size of the projection optical system 6 in the projection direction. It is to be noted that the element for bending the light path to reduce the depthwise dimension of the projection optical system is not limited to a prism, but may be some other element such as, for example, a mirror.

A numerical value example 6 where the projection optical system 6 according to the sixth embodiment described above is embodied more particularly is indicated in Tables 21 to 24 and FIG. 12.

Table 21 indicates the radius of curvature, face distance, refractive index nd of the glass material at the d-line and Abbe number νd of the glass material at the d-line of each face together with the focal length “f(all)”, F number and image height “y′” of the overall system. It is to be noted that the numerical value example 6 supposes that the projection optical system 6 is applied to a projector, and the reflecting surface of a rear surface mirror Mr positioned between the first lens G1 and a screen is determined as a first face and the other faces are individually numbered in order along the light path toward the image side. Accordingly, since a flux of light passes through the face of the first lens G1 on the image side twice, two face numbers (2 and 4) are applied to the face. It is to be noted that the 29th to 32nd faces are faces existing in an image formation section for forming an image to be projected on the screen by the projection optical system 6 and are listed for reference. Further, in Table 21, “INF” signifies a flat plane, and “※” in a column next to the column of the face number signifies that the face is an aspheric surface while “※※” signifies that the face is an aspheric surface which includes a term of an odd-numbered order. Further, an iris is represented by the face number “STOP”.

TABLE 21
f(all) = 6.2
F number = 2.6
Y′ = 14.0
				Radius of
Group	Lens	Si		Curvature	Distance	Nd	νd	Surface
		Object		INF	260.868
		1		INF	−185.008			Reflection
First	G1	2	※	−266.159	−15.000	1.49744	56.1
Group		3	※	−142.277	15.000	1.49744	56.1	Reflection
		4	※	−266.159	82.441
Second	G2	5		48.709	2.967	1.52510	56.3
Group		6	※	25.121	19.049
	G3	7		−95.514	2.318	1.84666	23.8
		8		46.558	12.948
	G4	9		INF	75.000	1.51680	64.200
		10		INF	0.234
Third	G5	11		262.499	28.100	1.83400	37.3
Group		12		−193.693	13.655
	G6	13		65.519	11.644	1.83400	37.3
		14		155.375	48.383
	G7	15		41.361	4.001	1.71300	53.9
		16		69.312	0.100
		STOP		INF	3.956
Fourth	G8	17	※	−633.631	5.945	1.80610	40.7
Group		18		65.188	2.825
	G9	19		−148.298	2.559	1.80518	25.5
		20		68.982	0.507
	G10	21		39.761	8.767	1.49700	81.6
		22		−28.923	0.107
	G11	23		−975.122	2.559	1.80610	40.7
		24	※	52.856	25.407
	G12	25		109.232	8.203	1.49700	81.6
		26		−91.908	0.107
	G13	27		117.155	9.268	1.49700	81.6
		28		−72.075	5.000
		29		INF	35.500	1.51680	64.2
		30		INF	23.000	1.84666	23.8
		31		INF	1.000	1.46010	60.0
		32		INF	0.700	1.51680	64.2
※ Aspheric surface
※※ Aspheric surface including a term of an odd-numbered order

In the projection optical system 6 described above, the convex surface s2, s4 of the first lens G1 on the image side, the face (reflecting surface) s3 of the first lens G1 on the projection side, the face s6 of the second lens G2 on the image side, the face s17 of the eighth lens G8 on the projection side and the face s24 of the eleventh lens G11 on the image side are formed as aspheric surfaces. Thus, the third-, fourth-, fifth-, sixth-, eighth- and tenth-order aspheric coefficients A3, A4, A5, A6, A8 and A10 of the faces in the numerical example 6 are indicated in Table 22 together with the conical constant “K”.

	TABLE 22
	K	A3	A4	A5	A6	A8	A10
S2.S4	1.80442		−5.90468E−08		5.65345E−12	−7.83526E−17
S3	−11.30000	2.46530E−07	−4.39970E−08	1.52730E−13	1.99250E−12	−1.91090E−19	−1.43430E−21
S6	−1.42191		7.55135E−06		−2.45815E−10	3.08865E−13	−7.07439E−15
S17	0		−5.86994E−06		6.83655E−10	−5.54734E−11	1.56926E−13
S24	1.90786		3.29145E−06		2.60907E−09	−4.14998E−12	5.84924E−14

Original data for the conditional expressions in the numerical value example 6 are illustrated in Table 23, and individual values relating to the original data are illustrated in Table 24.

TABLE 23
f(all) 6.200
φ1     −0.0166009
φ2     −0.0416130
φ12    −0.1331352
φ3     0.0148842
φ4     0.0178671
φ34    0.0001573
T23    62.62820
Tmax   7.70056
T0     15.00000
TASr
TAS2
SASr
SAS2

TABLE 24
f(all) · |φ1| 0.10293
φ1/φ2         0.39894
|φ12|/φ3      8.94473
|φ2|/T23      0.00213
fall · φ12    −0.82544
fall · φ34    0.00098
Tmax/T0       0.51337
TAS2 + TASr   (—)
SAS2 + SASr   (—)
kr            −11.30000
kt            1.80442
kr/kt         −6.26240
A3R           2.46530E−07
A3T           (—)
A3(2)         (—)
ΔP            3.20(G9, G11, G12)
ν()           81.6(G9, G11, G12)

FIG. 12 illustrates the spherical aberration, astigmatism and distortion aberration of the numerical value example 6. It is to be noted that, in the diagram of the spherical aberration, a solid line indicates an aberration curve at the g-line (wavelength: 435.8 nm), a broken line indicates an aberration curve at the d-line (wavelength: 587.6 nm) and an alternate long and short dash line indicates an aberration curve at the C-line (wavelength: 656.3 nm). In the diagram of the astigmatism, a solid line indicates a sagittal image surface, and a broken line indicates a meridional image surface. According to the projection optical system of the present embodiment, the spherical aberration, astigmatism and distortion aberration are corrected satisfactorily.

FIG. 13 shows a lens system of the projection optical system 7 according to a seventh embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 13, the projection optical system 7 shown includes a first lens group GR1 composed of a negative meniscus lens G1 having a concave surface directed to the projection side, a second lens group GR2 having a negative refracting power, a third lens group GR3 having a positive refracting power and a fourth lens group GR4 having a positive refracting power, disposed in order from the projection side. Further, a glass element G4 is interposed between the second lens group GR2 and the third lens group GR3. Thus, the projection optical system 7 has a lens configuration of the four-group retrofocus type.

The concave surface (face on the projection side) s3 of the negative meniscus lens G1 which composes the first lens group GR1 is formed as a reflecting surface having an aspherical shape, and a convex surface (face on the image side) s2, s4 of the negative meniscus lens G1 is formed as a refracting surface of an aspherical shape. The second lens group GR2 includes a second lens G2 in the form of a negative meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side and having a face on the image side formed as an aspheric surface and a third lens G3 in the form of a negative meniscus lens, disposed in order from the projection side. The third lens group GR3 includes a fifth lens G5 in the form of a positive lens, a sixth lens G6 in the form of a positive meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side, and a seventh lens G7 in the form of a positive meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side. The fifth to seventh lenses G5 to G7 are disposed in order from the projection side. The fourth lens group GR4 includes an eighth lens G8 in the form of a negative lens having a face on the projection side as an aspheric surface, a ninth lens G9 in the form of a negative lens, a tenth lens G10 in the form of a positive lens, an eleventh lens G11 in the form of a negative lens having a face on the image side as an aspheric surface, a twelfth lens G12 in the form of a positive lens, and a thirteenth lens G13 in the form of a positive lens, disposed in order from the projection side.

In the projection optical system 7 according to the present seventh embodiment, since the glass element G4 is interposed between the second lens group GR2 and the third lens group GR3, if a light path bending unit such as a prism is interposed in place of the glass element 4, then the light path can be bent. This makes it possible to reduce the depthwise dimension of the projection optical system 7, that is, the size of the projection optical system 7 in the projection direction. It is to be noted that the element for bending the light path to reduce the depthwise dimension of the projection optical system is not limited to a prism, but may be some other element such as, for example, a mirror.

A numerical value example 7 where the projection optical system 7 according to the seventh embodiment described above is embodied more particularly is indicated in Tables 25 to 28 and FIG. 14.

Table 25 indicates the radius of curvature, face distance, refractive index nd of the glass material at the d-line and Abbe number νd of the glass material at the d-line of each face together with the focal length “f(all)”, F number and image height “y′” of the overall system. It is to be noted that the numerical value example 7 supposes that the projection optical system 7 is applied to a projector, and the reflecting surface of a rear surface mirror Mr positioned between the first lens G1 and a screen is determined as a first face and the other faces are individually numbered in order along the light path toward the image side. Accordingly, since a flux of light passes through the face of the first lens G1 on the image side twice, two face numbers (2 and 4) are applied to the face. It is to be noted that the 29th to 32nd faces are faces existing in an image formation section for forming an image to be projected on the screen by the projection optical system 7 and are listed for reference. Further, in Table 25, “INF” signifies a flat plane, and “X” in a column next to the column of the face number signifies that the face is an aspheric surface while “※※” signifies that the face is an aspheric surface which includes a term of an odd-numbered order. Further, an iris is represented by the face number “STOP”.

TABLE 25
f(all) = 6.2
F number = 2.6
Y′ = 14.0
				Radius of
Group	Lens	Si		Curvature	Distance	Nd	νd	Surface
		Object		INF	262.299
		1		INF	−185.008			Reflection
First	G1	2	※	−267.253	−15.000	1.49744	56.1
Group		3	※※	−138.885	15.000	1.49744	56.1	Reflection
		4	※	−267.253	77.611
Second	G2	5		50.860	2.967	1.52510	56.3
Group		6	※※	25.176	18.562
	G3	7		−89.818	2.318	1.84666	23.8
		8		46.962	6.873
	G4	9		INF	75.000	1.51680	64.2
		10		INF	0.798
Third	G5	11		390.748	28.100	1.83400	37.3
Group		12		−158.706	8.785
	G6	13		67.560	11.641	1.83400	37.3
		14		199.972	50.481
	G7	15		48.484	2.203	1.71300	53.9
		16		68.276	0.100
		STOP		INF	3.499
Fourth	G8	17	※	−1003.771	5.945	1.80610	40.7
Group		18		89.902	2.825
	G9	19		−101.483	2.559	1.80518	25.5
		20		94.367	0.507
	G10	21		47.471	8.767	1.49700	81.6
		22		−27.544	0.107
	G11	23		−608.795	2.559	1.80610	40.7
		24	※	57.288	25.407
	G12	25		118.211	8.203	1.49700	81.6
		26		−88.317	0.107
	G13	27		124.658	9.268	1.49700	81.6
		28		−70.721	5.000
		29		INF	35.500	1.51680	64.2
		30		INF	23.000	1.84666	23.8
		31		INF	1.000	1.46010	60.0
		32		INF	0.700	1.51680	64.2
※ Aspheric surface
※※ Aspheric surface including a term of an odd-numbered order

In the projection optical system 7 described above, the convex surface s2, s4 of the first lens G1 on the image side, the face (reflecting surface) s3 of the first lens G1 on the projection side, the face s6 of the second lens G2 on the image side, the face s17 of the eighth lens G8 on the projection side and the face s24 of the eleventh lens G11 on the image side are formed as aspheric surfaces. Thus, the third-, fourth-, fifth-, sixth-, eighth- and tenth-order aspheric coefficients A3, A4, A5, A6, A8 and A10 of the faces in the numerical example 7 are indicated in Table 26 together with the conical constant “K”.

	TABLE 26
	K	A3	A4	A5	A6	A8	A10
S2.S4	1.82652		−5.30977E−08		5.67083E−12	−8.37370E−17
S3	−11.94000	4.06290E−07	−4.29420E−08	3.44590E−12	1.99590E−12	−1.09020E−18	−1.49110E−21
S6	−1.60550	2.13760E−05	7.80890E−06	5.16450E−08	−1.06380E−09	7.58070E−13	−8.64420E−15
S17	0		−6.18852E−05		−3.23138E−09	−5.51008E−11	1.54364E−13
S24	1.940023		3.35660E−06		1.70627E−09	−6.32274E−12	3.90912E−14

Original data for the conditional expressions in the numerical value example 7 are illustrated in Table 27, and individual values relating to the original data are illustrated in Table 28.

TABLE 27
f(all) 6.200
φ1     −0.0171139
φ2     −0.0426503
φ12    −0.1350289
φ3     0.0154177
φ4     0.0183937
φ34    0.0000281
T23    57.11720
Tmax   8.37451
T0     15.00000
TASr
TAS2
SASr
SAS2

TABLE 28
f(all) · |φ1| 0.10611
φ1/φ2         0.40126
|φ12|/φ3      8.75804
|φ2|/T23      0.00236
fall · φ12    −0.83718
fall · φ34    0.00017
Tmax/T0       0.55830
TAS2 + TASr   (—)
SAS2 + SASr   (—)
kr            −11.94000
kt            1.82652
kr/kt         −6.53702
A3R           4.06280E−07
A3T           (—)
A3(2)         2.13760E−05
ΔP            3.20(G10, G12, G13)
ν()           81.6(G10, G12, G13)

FIG. 14 illustrates the spherical aberration, astigmatism and distortion aberration of the numerical value example 7. It is to be noted that, in the diagram of the spherical aberration, a solid line indicates an aberration curve at the g-line (wavelength: 435.8 nm), a broken line indicates an aberration curve at the d-line (wavelength: 587.6 nm) and an alternate long and short dash line indicates an aberration curve at the C-line (wavelength: 656.3 nm). In the diagram of the astigmatism, a solid line indicates a sagittal image surface, and a broken line indicates a meridional image surface. According to the projection optical system of the present embodiment, the spherical aberration, astigmatism and distortion aberration are corrected satisfactorily.

FIG. 15 shows a lens system of the projection optical system 8 according to an eighth embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 15, the projection optical system 8 shown includes a first lens group GR1 composed of a negative meniscus lens G1 having a concave surface directed to the projection side, a second lens group GR2 having a negative refracting power, a third lens group GR3 having a positive refracting power and a fourth lens group GR4 having a positive refracting power, disposed in order from the projection side. Thus, the projection optical system 8 has a lens configuration of the four-group retrofocus type. Particularly, a great air gap is provided between the third lens group GR3 and the fourth lens group GR4.

The concave surface (face on the projection side) s3 of the negative meniscus lens G1 which composes the first lens group GR1 is formed as a reflecting surface having an aspherical shape, and a convex surface (face on the image side) s2, s4 of the negative meniscus lens G1 is formed as a refracting surface of an aspherical shape. The second lens group GR2 includes a second lens G2 in the form of a positive lens, a third lens G3 in the form of a negative lens having a face on the image side formed as an aspheric surface, and a fourth lens G4 in the form of a negative lens, disposed in order from the projection side. The third lens group GR3 includes a cemented lens including a fifth lens G5 in the form of a positive meniscus lens having a concave surface directed to the projection side and a sixth lens G6 in the form of a negative meniscus lens having a concave surface directed to the projection side, and a seventh lens G7 in the form of a positive lens, disposed in order from the projection side. The fourth lens group GR4 includes an eighth lens G8 in the form of a positive meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side, a ninth lens G9 in the form of a negative meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side, a tenth lens G10 in the form of a positive lens, an eleventh lens G11 in the form of a negative meniscus lens having a convex surface directed to the projection side, a twelfth lens G12 in the form of a positive lens, and a thirteenth lens G13 in the form of a positive lens, disposed in order from the projection side.

In the present projection optical system 8, it is possible to insert a light path bending unit such as a prism into the great air gap between the third lens group GR3 and the fourth lens group GR4, and this makes it possible to reduce the depthwise dimension of the projection optical system 8.

A numerical value example 8 where the projection optical system 8 according to the eighth embodiment described above is embodied more particularly is indicated in Tables 29 to 32 and FIG. 16.

Table 29 indicates the radius of curvature, face distance, refractive index nd of the glass material at the d-line and Abbe number νd of the glass material at the d-line of each face together with the focal length “f(all)”, F number and image height “y′” of the overall system. It is to be noted that the numerical value example 8 supposes that the projection optical system 8 is applied to a projector, and the reflecting surface of a rear surface mirror Mr positioned between the first lens G1 and a screen is determined as a first face and the other faces are individually numbered in order along the light path toward the image side. Accordingly, since a flux of light passes through the face of the first lens G1 on the image side twice, two face numbers (2 and 4) are applied to the face. It is to be noted that the 28th to 31st faces are faces existing in an image formation section for forming an image to be projected on the screen by the projection optical system 8 and are listed for reference. Further, in Table 29, “INF” signifies a flat plane, and “※” in a column next to the column of the face number signifies that the face is an aspheric surface while “※※” signifies that the face is an aspheric surface which includes a term of an odd-numbered order. Further, an iris is represented by the face number “STOP”.

TABLE 29
f(all) = 6.050
F number = 2.8
Y′ = 14.0
				Radius of
Group	Lens	Si		curvature	Distance	Nd	νd	Surface
		Object		INF	307.445
		1		INF	−100.000			Reflection
First	G1	2	※※	−324.572	−15.000	1.49744	56.1
Group		3	※	−198.369	15.000	1.49744	56.1	Reflection
		4	※※	−324.572	265.143
Second	G2	5		334.600	6.603	1.62602	57.3
Group		6		−253.315	0.500
	G3	7		−777.142	2.559	1.52510	56.3
		8	※	28.105	17.648
	G4	9		−34.777	4.265	1.79362	22.8
		10		166.767	7.100
Third	G5	11		−188.069	12.752	1.84888	32.6
Group	G6	12		−45.463	3.199	1.53738	64.3
		13		−68.287	0.107
	G7	14		289.215	23.329	1.77121	47.8
		15		−75.944	75.281
		STOP		INF	6.107
Fourth	G8	16		278.502	3.227	1.79850	22.6
Group		17	※	2026.526	31.639
	G9	18		3967.637	2.559	1.84754	26.7
		19		57.898	1.300
	G10	20		58.173	8.767	1.48749	70.4
		21		−85.543	0.107
	G11	22		100.347	2.559	1.80610	40.7
		23		56.437	2.816
	G12	24	※	67.016	8.203	1.49700	81.6
		25		−159.107	0.107
	G13	26		49.191	9.268	1.49700	81.6
		27		−391.056	5.000
		28		INF	35.500	1.51680	64.2
		29		INF	23.000	1.84666	23.8
		30		INF	1.000	1.46010	60.0
		31		INF	0.700	1.51680	64.2
※ Aspheric surface
※※ Aspheric surface including a term of an odd-numbered order

In the projection optical system 8 described above, the convex surface s2, s4 of the first lens G1 on the image side, the face (reflecting surface) s3 of the first lens G1 on the projection side, and the face s8 of the third lens G3 on the image side are formed as aspheric surfaces. Thus, the third-, fourth-, fifth-, sixth-, eighth- and tenth-order aspheric coefficients A3, A4, A5, A6, A8 and A10 of the faces in the numerical example 8 are indicated in Table 30 together with the conical constant “K”.

	TABLE 30
	K	A3	A4	A5	A6	A8	A10
S2.S4	−3.92950	1.80590E−06	−2.00220E−09	−2.48710E−12	−1.90240E−15	1.81240E−19
S3	−8.75710		9.65845E−10		8.29949E−15	−1.37529E−19	1.27873E−24
S8	0.01974		−5.48037E−07		−5.44242E−09	7.89234E−12	−1.65545E−14

Original data for the conditional expressions in the numerical value example 8 are illustrated in Table 31, and individual values relating to the original data are illustrated in Table 32.

TABLE 31
f(all) 6.050
φ1     −0.0116194
φ2     −0.0495316
φ12    −0.2293637
φ3     0.0219756
φ4     −0.0168996
φ34    −0.0136142
T23    7.10000
Tmax   18.88650
T0     15.00000
TASr   (—)
TAS2   (—)
SASr   (—)
SAS2   (—)

TABLE 32
f(all) · |φ1| 0.07030
φ1/φ2         0.23459
|φ12|/φ3      10.43720
|φ2|/T23      0.03230
fall · φ12    −1.38765
fall · φ34    −0.08237
Tmax/T0       1.25910
TAS2 + TASr   (—)
SAS2 + SASr   (—)
kr            −8.75716
kt            −3.92950
kr/kt         2.22857
A3R           (—)
A3T           1.80590E−06
A3(2)         (—)
ΔP            0.45(G10), 3.20(G12, G13)
ν()           70.4(G10), 81.6(G12, G13)

FIG. 16 illustrates the spherical aberration, astigmatism and distortion aberration of the numerical value example 8. It is to be noted that, in the diagram of the spherical aberration, a solid line indicates an aberration curve at the g-line (wavelength: 435.8 nm), a broken line indicates an aberration curve at the d-line (wavelength: 587.6 nm) and an alternate long and short dash line indicates an aberration curve at the C-line (wavelength: 656.3 nm). In the diagram of the astigmatism, a solid line indicates a sagittal image surface, and a broken line indicates a meridional image surface. According to the projection optical system of the present embodiment, the spherical aberration, astigmatism and distortion aberration are corrected satisfactorily.

As can be recognized from the foregoing description, in all of the numerical value examples described above, the conditional expressions (1) to (10) are satisfied, and various aberrations are corrected satisfactorily and miniaturization of the apparatus is achieved.

It is to be noted that, in the embodiments described above, lenses only of the refraction type which deflect incoming ray by refraction (that is, a lens of the type which causes deflection of light at an interface between different media having different refractive indices) are used except the reflecting surface. However, the lenses which can be used in the present invention are not limited to those of the refraction type, but various types of lenses can be applied. For example, lenses of the diffraction type which deflect an incident ray by diffraction, lenses of the refraction and diffraction hybrid type which deflect an incident ray by a combination of a diffraction action and a refraction action, lenses of the refractive index distribution type which deflect an incident ray depending upon the refractive index distribution in a medium and other lenses may be used.

The original data and the numerical values of the conditional expressions in the numerical value examples described hereinabove are listed collectively in Table 33.

	TABLE 33
		Embod-	Embod-	Embod-	Embod-	Embod-	Embod-	Embod-	Embod-
	Item	iment 1	iment 2	iment 3	iment 4	iment 5	iment 6	iment 7	iment 8
	fall	0.292	0.100	3.750	6.315	4.000	6.200	6.200	6.050
	φ1	−0.01082	−0.01265	−0.01523	−0.1710	−0.01095	−0.01660	−0.01711	−0.012
	φ2	−0.0404	−0.004889	−0.02670	−0.04236	−0.0156	−0.04161	−0.04265	−0.050
	φ12	−0.10460	−0.18011	−0.19469	−0.13078	−0.15863	−0.13314	−0.13503	−0.239
	φ3	0.01039	0.01633	0.01357	0.1450	0.01354	0.01488	0.01542	0.022
	φ4	0.01462	0.01849	0.02011	0.01150	0.0265	0.01787	0.01839	0.017
	φ34	−0.00245	−0.01397	−0.00772	0.00020	−0.00144	0.00016	0.00003	−0.014
	T23	86.694	20.759	6.148	60.437	7.609	62.628	57.117	9.100
	Tmax	7.531	16.500	15.000	8.009	36.389	7.701	8.325	18.687
	T0	15.000	15.000	15.000	15.000	15.000	15.000	15.000	15.000
	kt	2.96170	2.67624	−5.36229	1.75803	−8.02574	1.00043	1.52652	−1.930
	TASr	−0.5637	−0.69555	−0.683194	−0.09198	−0.19989	(—)	(—)	(—)
	TAS2	0.00077	0.59556	0.39244	0.14926	−0.53319	(—)	(—)	(—)
	SASr	−0.26402	−0.21786	−0.34320	−0.41931	−0.20103	(—)	(—)	(—)
	SAS2	0.16562	0.44142	0.42702	0.22245	0.31969	(—)	(—)	(—)
	Condi-
	tional	Lower	Upper
	ex-	limit	limit	Embod-	Embod-	Embod-	Embod-	Embod-	Embod-	Embod-	Embod-
	pression	value	value	iment 1	iment 2	iment 3	iment 4	iment 5	iment 6	iment 7	iment 8
(1)	fall ·	0.0	0.3	0.06808	0.7715	0.05711	0.10796	0.04386	0.10293	0.10611	0.07030
	|φ1|
(2)	φ12/φ34	3.0	60.0	42.72145	12.89083	14.34595	8.9595	0.06386	0.10251	0.30611	0.07020
(3)	fall ·	−2.0	−0.2	−0.65614	−1.69666	−0.73008	−0.62586	−0.02544	−0.53718	−1.19769
	φ12
(4)	Tmax/	0.1	5.0	0.50207	1.08000	0.9999	0.53394	2.42595	0.51337	0.55830	1.25910
	Tn
(5)	kr	−30.0	0.0	−16.60312	−12.16095	−6.44300	−12.92508	−8.07731	−11.10000	−11.01000	−6.75716
(6)	tr	−15.0	4.0	2.95170	1.87674	−5.36315	−1.75803	−0.07074	1.00643	1.62652	−3.989550
(7)	A3R	0.0E+00	1.0E−12	(—)	(—)	(—)	(—)	(—)	2.465E−07	4.00629E−07	(—)
(8)	A3T	0.0E+00	1.0E−12	(—)	(—)	(—)	(—)	(—)	(—)	(—)	1.80590E−04
(9)	ΔP	0.3	6.0	3.20(G9,	3.20(G9,	3.20(G12,	3.20(G9,	3.20(G9,	3.20(G9,	3.20(G10,	0.45(G10),
				G11, G12)	G11, G12)	G14, G15)	G11, G12)	G11, G12)	G11, G12)	G12, G13)	3.20(G12, G13)
(10)	ν	60	100	81.6(G9,	81.6(G9,	81.6(G9,	81.6(G9,	81.6(G9,	81.6(G9,	81.6(G9,	70.4(G10),
	()			G11, G12)	G11, G12)	G11, G15)	G11, G12)	G11, G12)	G11, G12)	G11, G13)	81.6(G12, G13)
Use of aspheric surface for first	◯	◯	◯	◯	◯	◯	◯	◯
group negative
surface
Number of aspheric surfaces of second	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
group
Number of aspheric surfaces of fourth	1	1	0	2	0	2	2	0
group
Use of odd-numbered order aspheric	(—)	(—)	(—)	(—)	(—)	◯	◯	(—)
surface for first group reflecting
surface
Use of odd-numbered order aspheric	(—)	(—)	(—)	(—)	(—)	(—)	(—)	◯
surface for first group refracting
surface
Use or odd-numbered order aspheric	(—)	(—)	(—)	(—)	(—)	(—)	◯	(—)
surface of second group

FIGS. 17 and 18 show an image projection apparatus to which the present invention is applied. The image projection apparatus is applied to a rear projection television set.

Referring to FIGS. 17 and 18, the rear projection television set 10 shown includes a housing 20 in which necessary parts, members and apparatus are disposed.

A large opening 21 is formed in a front wall of the housing 20 except a lower portion, and a transmission type screen Scr is disposed such that it closes up the opening 21. A total reflection mirror Mr is disposed at a rear portion in the housing 20 substantially in an opposing relationship to the transmission type screen Scr. A projection optical system 30 and an image formation section 40 are disposed at a lower portion in the housing 20. Light of an image formed by the image formation section 40 successively passes through lens groups GR2, GR3 and GR4 and is reflected in a wide angle toward the total reflection mirror Mr by a negative meniscus lens G1 of a first lens group GR1 of the projection optical system 30. The image light is further reflected by the total reflection mirror Mr and forms an image on the rear face of the transmission type screen Scr. Accordingly, the image formed by the image formation section 40 is projected in an enlarged scale on the transmission type screen Scr and can be enjoyed from the front of the transmission type screen Scr.

While the image formation section 40 may have any form only if it can form an image which can be projected by the projection optical system 30, an example of the image formation section 40 is shown in FIG. 18.

Referring to FIG. 18, the image formation section 40 is formed as a full color image formation section of the three-plate type including three liquid crystal panels, that is, an R liquid crystal panel 41R, a G liquid crystal panel 41G and a B liquid crystal panel 41B which are driven individually by image signals of three demultiplexed components of red (R), green (G) and blue (B).

The image formation section 40 includes a light source section 50 which emits white light in the form of a parallel light flux. The white light emitted from the light source section 50 is reflected by a total reflection mirror 51 and demultiplexed into an R component and a GB component by a dichroic mirror 42a. The GB component having passed through the dichroic mirror 42a is demultiplexed into a G component and a B component by another dichroic mirror 42b. The R component reflected by the dichroic mirror 42a is further reflected by a total reflection mirror 43a and passes through the R liquid crystal panel 41R and then enters a dichroic prism 44. The G component reflected by the dichroic mirror 42b passes through the G liquid crystal panel 41G and enters the dichroic prism 44. It is to be noted that the R component and the G component have an equal light path length.

The B component having passed through the dichroic mirror 42b is successively reflected by total reflection mirrors 43b and 43c, passes through the B liquid crystal panel 41B and enters the dichroic prism 44. It is to be noted that, since the B component has a path length longer than that of the R and G components, lenses 45a for the light path length adjustment are interposed between the dichroic mirror 42a and the total reflection mirror 43b and between the total reflection mirrors 43b and 43c, respectively. Further, condenser lenses 45b are disposed on the incident face side of the liquid crystal panels 41R, 41G and 41B, respectively.

The R, G and B components spatially modulated by the liquid crystal panels 41R, 41G and 41B are multiplexed by the dichroic prism 44 disposed such that color separation filters intersect with each other. Consequently, the R, G and B components are emitted as a single full-color image from an emergence face 44a and enter the projection optical system 30.

The full-color image is reproduced on the transmission type screen Scr in such a manner as described above.

It is to be noted that any one of the projection optical systems 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 according to the embodiments described hereinabove can be used as the projection optical system 30. Since any of the projection optical systems wherein the diameter of the aspherical reflecting surface is reduced is used, a lower portion (or an upper portion) of the screen of a rear projection television set can be lowered physically.

FIG. 19 shows a modification 10A to the rear projection television set 10 described above. The rear projection television set 10A is different from the rear projection television set 10 in that a light path bending prism 31 is interposed in the light path of the projection optical system 30A.

The interposed arrangement of the light path bending prism 31 can decrease the depthwise dimension of the projection optical system 30A and consequently can decrease the depthwise dimension D of the rear projection television set 10A. Although the light path in the arrangement of FIG. 19 is bent in a vertical plane by the prism, the light path may be bent otherwise in a horizontal plane.

While the rear projection television set is described above as an example of an image projection apparatus, the application of the image projection apparatus of the present invention is not limited to a rear projection television set. Naturally, the image projection apparatus of the present invention can be applied to any image projection apparatus such as a front projector wherein an image is projected to a screen of the reflection type.

In summary, the present invention can be applied to an apparatus which projects an image, particularly to an image projection apparatus where there is a restriction to the distance between the apparatus and a projection plane although wide angle projection is demanded. In particular, for example, where the present invention is applied to a rear projection television set, reduction in thickness is easy. Meanwhile, where the present invention is applied to a front projector, even if there is a limitation to the place at which it is to be placed such as a small room, an image can be projected to a great screen.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described using specific terms, such description is for illustrative purpose only, and it is to be understood that changes and variations may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A projection optical system of the retrofocus type, comprising: a first lens group having a negative refracting power; and a second lens group having a negative refracting power; said first and second lens groups being arranged in order from a projection side, and said first lens group including a negative meniscus lens having a concave surface directed to the projection side and formed as an aspherical reflecting surface.

2. A projection optical system according to claim 1, further comprising: a third lens group having a positive refracting power; and a fourth lens group having a positive refracting power, said third and fourth lens groups being disposed in order toward an image side on the image side with respect to said second lens group, said first to fourth lens groups satisfying conditional expressions (1), (2), (3), (4) and (5): 0.02<f(all)·|φ1|<0.3  (1) 3.0<φ12/φ34<60  (2) −2.0<f(all)·φ12<−0.2  (3) 0.1<Tmax/T0<5.0  (4) −30<kr<0  (5) where f(all) is a focal length of the projection optical system, φ1 is the refracting power of said first lens group, φ2 is the refracting power of said second lens group, φ12 is the composite refracting power of said first and second lens groups, φ34 is the composite refracting power of said third and fourth lens groups, Tmax is the thickness of said negative meniscus lens at a maximum image height in a direction parallel to an optical axis, T0 is the thickness of said negative meniscus lens on the axis, and kr is the aspheric conical constant of said aspherical reflecting surface.

3. The projection optical system according to claim 1, wherein said negative meniscus lens that composes said first lens group has an aspherical refracting surface and satisfies conditional expression (6):

4. The projection optical system according to claim 2, wherein said negative meniscus lens that composes said first lens group has an aspherical refracting surface and satisfies conditional expression (6):

5. The projection optical system according to claim 1, wherein said aspherical reflecting surface of said negative meniscus lens of said first lens group includes a term of an odd-numbered order that satisfies conditional expression (7):

6. The projection optical system according to claim 2, wherein said aspherical reflecting surface of said negative meniscus lens of said first lens group includes a term of an odd-numbered order that satisfies conditional expression (7):

7. The projection optical system according to claim 1, wherein said aspherical reflecting surface of said negative meniscus lens of said first lens group includes a term of an odd-numbered order that satisfies conditional expression (8):

8. The projection optical system according to claim 2, wherein said aspherical reflecting surface of said negative meniscus lens of said first lens group includes a term of an odd-numbered order that satisfies conditional expression (8):

9. The projection optical system according to claim 1, wherein at least one face of a lens or lenses that compose said second lens group is formed with an aspheric surface.

10. The projection optical system according to claim 2, wherein at least one face of a lens or lenses that compose said second lens group is formed with an aspheric surface.

11. The projection optical system according to claim 1, wherein at least one face of a lens or lenses that compose said second lens group is formed with an aspheric surface including a term of an odd-numbered order.

12. The projection optical system according to claim 2, wherein at least one face of a lens or lenses that compose said second lens group is formed with an aspheric surface including a term of an odd-numbered order.

13. The projection optical system according to claim 2, wherein at least one face of a lens or lenses that compose said fourth lens group is formed with an aspheric surface.

14. The projection optical system according to claim 2, wherein said fourth lens group includes at least one positive lens that satisfies conditional expressions (9) and (10):

15. The projection optical system according to claim 1, further comprising a light path bending unit interposed between said first and second lens groups or at a suitable position on the image side with respect to said second lens group for bending a light path.

16. The projection optical system according to claim 2, further comprising a light path bending unit interposed between said first and second lens groups or at a suitable position on the image side with respect to said second lens group for bending a light path.

17. An image projection apparatus, comprising: an image formation section for forming an image; and a projection optical system for projecting the image formed by said image formation section; said projection optical system being of a retrofocus type that includes a first lens group having a negative refracting power and a second lens group having a negative refracting power, said first and second lens groups being arranged in order from a projection side, said first lens group including a negative meniscus lens that has a concave surface directed to a projection side and formed as an aspherical reflecting surface.

18. The image projection apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said projection optical system further includes a third lens group having a positive refracting power and a fourth lens group having a positive refracting power, said third and fourth lens groups being disposed in order toward an image side on the image side with respect to said second lens group, said first to fourth lens groups satisfying conditional expressions (1), (2), (3), (4) and (5):