Optical element and information recording medium for counterfeit prevention

There is provided an optical element for counterfeit prevention thathas bothhighcounterfeitpreventingproperty 5 and designability by a multi-optical element structure. The optical element has a second layer (3) having a relief structure on a front surface, a first layer (2) disposed on the second layer (3), and a third layer (6) in a thin film interposed between the second layer (3) and the first layer 10 (2) and formed along a front surface of the relief structure. The second layer (3) has a refractive index lower than a refractive index of the first layer (2) and the third layer (6) has a refractive index higher than the refractive index of the first layer (2). The optical element has at least a 15 first region (4) and a second region (5) in a plan view. In the first region (4), an electromagneticwave that enters from a side of the first layer (2) in a specific angle range is configured tobe totally reflected. In the secondregion (5), a relief structure that causes at least one of diffraction, 20 interference, scattering, refraction, and absorption of an electromagneticwave is disposed and the electromagneticwave entering from the first layer (2) side is configured to be reflected by a refractive index difference between the first layer (2) and the third layer (6).