Projection type image display apparatus

Red, green, and blue laser beams emitted from laser light sources (1-3) are made into substantially parallel beams by collimate lenses (4-6), collected by micro lens eyes (7-9), and unified by rod integrators (10-12), before illuminating an image formed by space light modulation elements (16-18) and being subjected to modulation. The respective modulated laser beams emitted from the space light modulation elements (16-18) are synthesized by a light synthesis prism (19) and subjected to pixel separation by a birefringence plate (20) whose rotation is driven by a birefringence plate rotation drive unit (26) before being projected onto a screen (22) by a projection optical system (21). The birefringence plate (20) spatially separates the modulated laser beams by birefringence. Since pixels are spatially separated by the birefringence plate, the pixel grating region is reduced, the luminance distribution on the screen is made uniform, and the spectrum noise is reduced.