High-speed electro-optical light gate and field sequential full color display system incorporating same
First Claim
1. A high-speed electrooptical light gate which receives light from a light source, comprising:
- a pair of variable optical retarding means positioned between a pair of spaced-apart light polarizing means,each one of the pair of variable optical retarding means including a liquid crystal cell that comprises liquid crystal material which has directors and is contained between a pair of generally parallel electrode structures, each electrode structure including a director alignment layer which has been conditioned so that the directors of the liquid crystal material in contact therewith become substantially uniformly aligned to form tilt bias angles with the conditioned surfaces, the tilt bias angles of the directors in contact with one conditioned surface being defined in a rotational sense opposite to the tilt bias angles of the directors in contact with the other conditioned surface, andeach one of the pair of variable optical retarding means having an optic axis and a light communicating surface on which the optic axis is projected, the pair of variable optical retarding means being arranged so that the projections of the optic axes on the light communicating surfaces are orthogonally related; and
control means in communication with the pair of variable optical retarding means to provide first and second optical transmission states, the first optical transmission state providing for the transmission of light coupled through the light gate and the second optical transmission state providing for the extinction of light coupled through the light gate.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A high-speed electro-optical light gate (40) includes a pair of matched variable optical retarders (54 and 56) positioned between a pair of light polarizing filters (42 and 44) to promote rapid switching between optical transmission states for light rays of the wavelength to which the variable optical retarders are tuned. The projections (62 and 66) of the optic axes of the variable optical retarders are orthogonally aligned so that the response time characteristics of the transitions between optical transmission states of the light gate reflect only the turn-on time response characteristic of the variable optical retarders. A field sequential color display system (78) incorporates a switchable color filter (80) which utilizes the alignment configuration of the variable optical retarders of the light gate to provide light output states of white light and light of three different colors to form an image in full color.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A high-speed electrooptical light gate which receives light from a light source, comprising:
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a pair of variable optical retarding means positioned between a pair of spaced-apart light polarizing means, each one of the pair of variable optical retarding means including a liquid crystal cell that comprises liquid crystal material which has directors and is contained between a pair of generally parallel electrode structures, each electrode structure including a director alignment layer which has been conditioned so that the directors of the liquid crystal material in contact therewith become substantially uniformly aligned to form tilt bias angles with the conditioned surfaces, the tilt bias angles of the directors in contact with one conditioned surface being defined in a rotational sense opposite to the tilt bias angles of the directors in contact with the other conditioned surface, and each one of the pair of variable optical retarding means having an optic axis and a light communicating surface on which the optic axis is projected, the pair of variable optical retarding means being arranged so that the projections of the optic axes on the light communicating surfaces are orthogonally related; and control means in communication with the pair of variable optical retarding means to provide first and second optical transmission states, the first optical transmission state providing for the transmission of light coupled through the light gate and the second optical transmission state providing for the extinction of light coupled through the light gate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A switchable color filter which receives light from a light source having plural light components that can be combined to form white light, comprising:
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three color selective polarizing means in optical communication with the light source; a pair of variable optical retarding means positioned so that each one of the pair of variable optical retarding means is disposed between a different pair of the three color selective polarizing means, each one of the pair of variable optical retarding means having an optic axis and a light communicating surface on which the optic axis is projected and the pair of variable optical retarding means being arranged so that the light communicating surfaces thereof are disposed in substantially parallel relation and that the projections of the optic axes are orthogonally related; and control means in communication with the pair of variable optical retarding means to selectively transmit a light output of one of three colors or white light. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A field sequential color display system which receives light from a light source having plural light components that can be combined to form white light, comprising:
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image information generating means in communication with the light source to produce light image information; three color selective polarizing means in optical communication with the light source; a pair of variable optical retarding means positioned so that each one of the pair of variable optical retarding means is disposed between a different pair of the three color selective polarizing means, each one of the pair of variable optical retarding means having an optic axis and a light communicating surface on which the optic axis is projected and the pair of variable optical retarding means being arranged so that the light communicating surfaces thereof are disposed in substantially parallel relation and that the projections of the optic axes are orthogonally related; control means in communication with the pair of variable optical retarding means to selectively transmit a light output of one of three colors or white light; and synchronizing means to synchronize a light output of one of the three colors or white light with a predetermined one of the light image information to provide a light image in a desired color. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A high-speed electro-optical light gate which receives light from a light source and modulates the intensity of the light between transmitting and opaque optical transmission states, comprising:
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a pair of spaced-apart light polarizing means; first and second variable optical retarding means positioned between the pair of light polarizing means and having a turn-on response time characteristic when switching from a first retardation state to a second retardation state, the first retardation state providing a greater amount of retardation than that of the second retardation state, each of the first and second variable optical retarding means having an optic axis and a light communicating surface on which the optic axis is projected, the first and second variable optical retarding means being arranged so that the projections of the optic axes on the light communicating surfaces are orthogonally related; and control means operable for commanding the first variable retarding means to the first retardation state and the second variable optical retarding means to the second retardation state to effect a transition from the opaque state to the transmitting state with a response time characteristic that is substantially the same as the turn-on response time characteristic, and for commanding the first and second variable optical retarding means to the second retardation state to effect a transition from the transmitting state to the opaque state with a response time characteristic that is substantially the same as the turn-on response time characteristic. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification