Illumination device and liquid crystal display device

摘要

An illuminator according to the present invention includes a backlight (110) for emitting light containing first and second polarization components having polarization directions which are orthogonal to each other; and a selective reflection polarizer (120) having a reflectance for the first polarization component which is higher than a transmittance for the first polarization component, and having a transmittance for the second polarization component which is higher than a reflectance for the second polarization component. The selective reflection polarizer (120) includes a transparent substrate (122) and a plurality of metal wires (124) arrayed on the transparent substrate (122). The ratio of a width of the metal wires (124) to a pitch of the metal wires (124) is greater than 30% and equal to or less than 42%, and the backlight (110) has a reflectance of 0.6 or more.