| CPC G02B 27/4222 (2013.01) [G01B 11/2513 (2013.01); G02B 27/44 (2013.01)] | 12 Claims |

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1. A diffractive optical element comprising:
a substrate;
a protrusion and recess portion that is formed on one surface of the substrate and imposes predetermined diffraction on incident light; and
an antireflection layer provided between the substrate and the protrusion and recess portion, wherein:
an effective refractive index difference Δn in a wavelength range of the incident light between a first medium constituting a protrusion of the protrusion and recess portion and a second medium constituting a recess of the protrusion and recess portion is 0.70 or more;
an exit angle range θout of diffraction light exiting from the protrusion and recess portion when the incident light enters the substrate from a normal direction of the substrate is 60° or more; and
reflectance of the antireflection layer for at least particular polarized light in a wavelength range of 360 nm to 370 nm, incident on the antireflection layer at 20° or less with respect to a normal direction of the substrate, is 1.0% or less.
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