Optical elements and lighting devices including optical elements

Abstract

The present invention provides an optical element capable of arbitrarily processing light incident from a light source and an illumination apparatus including the optical element. An optical element (120) comprises a liquid crystal cell (130), a λ / 4 film (150) on the liquid crystal cell, and a reflective plate (160) on the λ / 4 film. The liquid crystal cell includes a plurality of first electrodes (136), a first alignment film (142) on the first electrodes, a liquid crystal layer (140) located on the first alignment film, a second alignment film (144) on the liquid crystal layer, and a plurality of second electrodes (138) located on the second alignment film. The plurality of first electrodes extend in a first extension direction and are arranged in a stripe form. The liquid crystal layer contains liquid crystal molecules. The plurality of second electrodes are arranged in a stripe form and extend in a second extension direction that intersects the first extension direction at an angle of 80°-90° inclusive.

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