Laser illuminated projection displays
First Claim
1. A projection display, comprising:
- at least one optically pumped semiconductor (OPS) laser, said laser including a semiconductor gain medium located with a resonator including one mirror spaced from the gain medium, said gain medium being optically pumped in order to generate fundamental radiation and wherein the resonator is configured so that the TEM00 mode size at the gain medium is smaller than the pump beam spot size at the gain medium whereby the laser generates laser radiation in multiple transverse modes in both orthogonal (X/Y) axes perpendicular to the propagation axis of the delivered laser radiation, said laser further including a nonlinear crystal within the resonator for doubling the frequency of the fundamental radiation;
a spatial light modulator for spatially modulating said radiation from said OPS-laser in accordance with a component of an image to be displayed; and
projection optics for projecting said spatially modulated light onto a screen on which said image is to be displayed.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A projection video display includes a light source including an OPS-laser delivering laser radiation in multiple transverse modes (a multiple-transverse-mode OPS-laser). The display includes a spatial light modulator for spatially modulating the radiation from the multiple-transverse-mode OPS-laser in accordance with a portion of an image to be displayed. Projection optics project the spatially modulated light on a screen on which the image is to be displayed. In one example the OPS-laser is a diode-laser array pumped OPS-laser and is one of three lasers, one delivering red light, one delivering blue light, and the other delivering green light. The lasers are time modulated such that the spatial light modulator receives light from each of the lasers separately. The OPS laser is directly time modulated by periodically turning the diode-laser array on and off.
67 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A projection display, comprising:
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at least one optically pumped semiconductor (OPS) laser, said laser including a semiconductor gain medium located with a resonator including one mirror spaced from the gain medium, said gain medium being optically pumped in order to generate fundamental radiation and wherein the resonator is configured so that the TEM00 mode size at the gain medium is smaller than the pump beam spot size at the gain medium whereby the laser generates laser radiation in multiple transverse modes in both orthogonal (X/Y) axes perpendicular to the propagation axis of the delivered laser radiation, said laser further including a nonlinear crystal within the resonator for doubling the frequency of the fundamental radiation; a spatial light modulator for spatially modulating said radiation from said OPS-laser in accordance with a component of an image to be displayed; and projection optics for projecting said spatially modulated light onto a screen on which said image is to be displayed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A projection display, comprising:
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a spatial light modulator; first, second, and third lasers for generating and delivering respectively a red light beam, a green light beam and a blue light beam, at least one of said first, second, and third lasers being an intracavity frequency doubled optically pumped semiconductor laser; an optical arrangement for delivering said red, green and blue light beams to said spatial light modulator, said spatial light modulator being arranged to amplitude modulate said red, green and blue light beams in accordance with red, green, and blue components of an image to be displayed; a time modulation arrangement for periodically interrupting delivery of said red, green, and blue light beams to said spatial light modulator in a manner such that said light beams are received and spatially modulated separately by said spatial light modulator; and wherein said time modulation arrangement includes periodically interrupting said optical pumping of said optically pumped semiconductor laser, thereby periodically interrupting generation of said light beam provided thereby. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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16. A projection display, comprising:
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first, second, and third lasers for generating and delivering respectively a red light beam, a green light beam and a blue light beam, at least one of said first, second, and third lasers being an intracavity doubled optically pumped semiconductor laser, and each of said beams having an original beam divergence; an optical arrangement for directing said red, blue, and green, beams along a common path; a first lens; a scanning arrangement for scanning said red, green and blue beams in said common path in a particular pattern over said first lens, such that averaged over time each of said beams has an apparent beam divergence greater than said original divergence thereof, said first lens being arranged to direct said scanned beams into a beam homogenizer; a spatial light modulator, said spatial light modulator arranged to receive said red green and blue light beams homogenized by said beam homogenizer spatially modulate said homogenized beams in accordance with a red, green or blue portion of an image to be displayed; and projection optics for projecting said homogenized, spatially modulated, red, green, and blue beams onto a screen on which said image is to be displayed. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification