PROPAGATION OPTICAL SYSTEM AND VIRTUAL IMAGE DISPLAY DEVICE AND HEAD MOUNTED DISPLAY

To achieve a novel propagation optical system that is used for a light guide type virtual image display device and propagates an image displayed on an image display element to a light guide member.SOLUTION: A propagation optical system is used for a virtual image display device that causes a light guide member 30 to guide light from an image display element 10 on which an image is displayed and to emit the light from the light guide member to the outside to display a virtual image of the image, and propagates the light from the image display element to the light guide member. The propagation optical system has a first optical system RL, an intermediate optical element LI, and a second optical system LC arranged in order from the side of the image display element toward the side of the light guide member, and forms an intermediate image IN of the image displayed on the image display element between the first optical system and the second optical system. The intermediate optical element LI has a non-rotationally symmetrical curved surface that is non-rotationally symmetrical with respect to an optical axis, and of a cross section of the non-rotationally symmetrical curved surface including the optical axis, a specific cross section being a cross section having the strongest positive power has a non-arcuate cross-sectional shape.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1 【課題】導光タイプの虚像表示装置に用いられ、画像表示素子に表示された画像を導光部材に伝搬する、新規な伝搬光学系を実現する。【解決手段】画像が表示された画像表示素子１０からの光を導光部材３０に導光させ、前記導光部材から外部へ射出させることで前記画像の虚像を表示する虚像表示装置に用いられ、前記画像表示素子からの光を前記導光部材に伝搬する伝搬光学系であって、前記画像表示素子の側から前記導光部材の側に向かって順に、第１の光学系ＲＬ、中間光学素子ＬＩ、第２の光学系ＬＣを配してなり、前記画像表示素子に表示された画像の中間像ＩＮを、前記第１の光学系と前記第２の光学系との間に結像し、前記中間光学素子ＬＩは、光軸に対して非回転対称な形状の非回転対称曲面を有し、該非回転対称曲面の前記光軸を含む断面のうちで最も正のパワーが強い断面である特定断面の断面形状が非円弧形状である。【選択図】 図１