1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vehicular headlamp that uses semiconductor light emitting elements, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) or the like, as a light source.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, there have been proposed various vehicular headlamps that use semiconductor light emitting elements as a light source. Generally, such a vehicular headlamp employs light emitting diodes (LEDs) as semiconductor light emitting elements. For example, a vehicular headlamp in which a plurality of LEDs that form an array emits light directly to a projection lens (hereinafter, also referred to as direct emission headlamp) has been proposed (see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-211947 (JP 2010-211947 A)).
However, in the construction of a direct emission headlamp as described in JP 2010-211947 A, light that does not enter the projection lens (leaking light) exists as well, so that it is not easy to improve the utilization efficiency of light emitted from the LEDs. Furthermore, there is a demand for clear display of cut-off lines in a light distribution pattern which are generally formed on or near a preceding vehicle.