Transmission type laminated hologram optical element and image display device comprising this optical element

• US 7,139,109 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2002
• Issued: 11/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Mukawa, Hiroshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Assaf, Fayez G.
• Application Number:
  US10/492,590
• Publication Number:
  US 20040257628A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,484 Days
• Field of Search: 359/22, 359/24, 359/25, 359/15
• US Class Current: 359/22
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/32 Holograms used as optical elements
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133504 Diffusing, scattering, diffracting elements associated to illuminating devices G02F1/133606
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133521 Interference filters
• CPC Class Codes: G03H 1/0252 Laminate comprising a hologram layer
• CPC Class Codes: G03H 2001/0413 for recording transmission holograms
• CPC Class Codes: G03H 2001/267 Polarisation multiplexing
• CPC Class Codes: G03H 2250/41 Polarisation active layer
• CPC Class Codes: G03H 2260/12 Photopolymer
• CPC Class Codes: G03H 2260/33 Having dispersed compound

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a transmission type laminated hologram optical element constituting an image display apparatus, wherein plural transmission type hologram optical elements (13), (14), (15) where diffraction acceptance incident angles are different from each other are laminated. The respective transmission type hologram optical elements are adapted so that outgoing angles with respect to center incident angles of respective diffraction acceptance incident angles at an arbitrary wavelength of the visible region are different from each other, whereby a diffraction acceptance angle of incident light can be broadened, light utilization efficiency is permitted to be high, and distance with respect to color pixels of the spatial light modulation element can be optimally set from viewpoints of light utilization efficiency.

Claims

1. A transmission type laminated hologram optical element caused to be of the configuration in which a plurality of transmission type hologram optical elements having diffraction acceptance incident angles different from each other are laminated,

wherein each of said respective transmission type hologram optical elements are a polarization selective hologram optical element having a structure in that plural regions where incident polarization azimuth dependencies of a refractive index are different from each other are arranged in order,

wherein each of said respective transmission type hologram optical elements are a polarization selective hologram optical element including a polymer dispersion liquid crystal material.

2. The transmission type laminated hologram optical element as set forth in claim 1,

wherein each of said respective transmission type hologram optical elements are a polarization selective hologram optical element having a structure in that two regions where incident polarization azimuth dependencies of a refractive index are different from each other are arranged in order.

3. A transmission type laminated hologram optical element caused to be of the configuration in which a plurality of transmission type hologram optical elements having diffraction acceptance incident angles different from each other are laminated,

wherein each of said respective transmission type hologram optical elements are a polarization selective hologram optical element having a structure in that plural regions where incident polarization azimuth dependencies of a refractive index are different from each other are arranged in order,

wherein the transmission type hologram optical elements constitute a micro-lens array.

4. The transmission type laminated hologram optical element as set forth in claim 3,

wherein the number of layers of the transmission type hologram optical elements is 3 or more.

5. A transmission type laminated hologram optical element caused to be of the configuration in which a plurality of transmission type hologram optical elements having diffraction acceptance incident angles different from each other are laminated,

wherein each of said respective transmission type hologram optical elements are a polarization selective hologram optical element having a structure in that plural regions where incident polarization azimuth dependencies of a refractive index are different from each other are arranged in order,

wherein the respective transmission type hologram optical elements are adapted so that outgoing angles with respect to center incident angles of respective diffraction acceptance incident angles at an arbitrary wavelength of the visible region are different from each other by 5 degrees or more.

6. An image display device comprising:

a transmission type laminated hologram optical element, and

a spatial light modulation element for modulating outgoing light from the transmission type laminated hologram optical element,

wherein the transmission type laminated hologram optical element is caused to be of the configuration such that a plurality of transmission type hologram optical elements in which diffraction acceptance incident angles are different from each other and outgoing angles with respect to center incident angles of respective diffraction acceptance incident angles at an arbitrary wavelength of the visible region are different from each other are laminated.

7. The image display device as set forth in claim 6,

wherein the respective transmission type hologram optical elements are adapted so that an outgoing angle range corresponding to an arbitrary incident angle range within the diffraction acceptance incident angle is smaller than said incident angle range.

8. The image display device as set forth in claim 6,

wherein each of said respective transmission type hologram optical elements are a polarization selective hologram optical element having a structure in that two regions where incident polarization azimuth dependencies of a refractive index are different from each other are arranged in order.

9. The image display device as set forth in claim 6,

wherein each of said respective transmission type hologram optical elements are a polarization selective hologram optical element including a polymer dispersion liquid crystal material.

10. The image display device as set forth in claim 6,

wherein the transmission type hologram optical element has a converging function.

11. The image display device as set forth in claim 6,

wherein the respective transmission type hologram optical elements constitute a micro-lens array, and serves to converge illumination light onto respective pixels corresponding to spatial light modulation elements.

12. The image display device as set forth in claim 11,

wherein at least one set or more of rays of main light of illumination light converged onto corresponding respective pixels of the spatial light modulation elements from the respective transmission type hologram optical elements.

13. The image display device as set forth in claim 6,

wherein the transmission type hologram optical elements constitute a micro-lens array, and has a color filter function to converge illumination light onto corresponding respective color pixels of the spatial light modulation elements in the state where they are color-separated.

14. The image display device as set forth in claim 13,

wherein at least one set or more of main rays of light of respective rays of color light of illumination light converge onto corresponding respective color pixels of the spatial light modulation elements from the respective transmission type hologram optical elements.

15. The image display device as set forth in claim 6,

wherein the number of layers of the transmission hologram optical elements is 3 or more.

16. The image display device as set forth in claim 6,

wherein the respective transmission type hologram optical elements are adapted so that outgoing angles with respect to center incident angles of respective diffraction acceptance incident angles at an arbitrary wavelength of the visible region are different from each other by 5 degrees or more.

17. The image display device as set forth in claim 6,

wherein the spatial light modulation element is a reflection type spatial light modulation element, and serves to modulate illumination light which has been incident from the transmission type hologram optical element of the transmission type laminated hologram optical element to allow the modulated illumination light to be incident on the transmission type laminated hologram optical element for a second time.

18. The image display device as set forth in claim 6,

wherein a hologram surface of the transmission type laminated hologram optical element and a light modulation surface of the spatial light modulation element are caused to be in parallel to each other.

19. The image display device as set forth in claim 6,

wherein a spacing between a hologram surface of the transmission type laminated hologram optical element and a light modulation surface of the spatial light modulation element is 50 μ

m or less.

20. An image display apparatus comprising:

an illumination light source for emitting illumination light;

a transmission type laminated hologram optical element for diffracting incident light;

an illumination optical system for guiding the illumination light to the transmission type laminated hologram optical element as incident light;

a spatial light modulation element for modulating illumination light which has been emitted from the transmission type laminated hologram optical element; and

a magnification optical system for magnifying the illumination light which has been modulated by the spatial light modulation element to form an image thereof,

wherein the transmission type laminated hologram optical element is caused to be of the configuration such that a plurality of transmission type hologram optical elements in which diffraction acceptance incident angles are different from each other, and outgoing angles with respect to center incident angles of respective diffraction acceptance incident angles at an arbitrary wavelength of the visible region are different from each other are laminated.

21. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 20,

wherein the respective transmission type hologram optical elements are adapted so that an outgoing angle range corresponding to an arbitrary incident angle range within a diffraction acceptance incident angle is smaller than said incident angle range.

22. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 20,

wherein the transmission type laminated hologram optical element is adapted so that an illumination light is caused to be incident at an incident angle from more than 30 degrees to less than 90 degrees by an illumination optical system, diffraction efficiency of illumination light which is a first polarization azimuth of rays of incident illumination light is 50% or more, and diffraction efficiency of illumination light of a second polarization azimuth perpendicular to the first polarization azimuth is 10% or less.

23. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 22,

wherein the first polarization azimuth is P-polarized light.

24. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 20,

wherein each of said respective transmission type hologram optical elements are a polarization selective hologram optical element having a structure in that two regions where incident polarization dependencies of refractive index are different from each other are arranged in order.

25. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 20,

wherein each of said respective transmission type hologram optical elements are a polarization selective hologram optical element including a polymer dispersion liquid crystal material.

26. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 20,

wherein the transmission type hologram optical element has a converging function.

27. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 20,

wherein the transmission type hologram optical elements constitute a micro-lens array, and serves to converge illumination light onto corresponding respective pixels of the spatial light modulation element.

28. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 27,

wherein at least one set or more of rays of main light of illumination light converged onto corresponding respective pixels of the spatial light modulation element from the respective transmission type hologram optical elements are crossed with each other.

29. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 20,

wherein the transmission type hologram optical elements constitute a micro-lens array, and have a color filter function to converge illumination light onto corresponding respective color pixels of the spatial light modulation element in the state where they are color-separated.

30. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 29,

wherein at least one set or more of rays of main light of respective rays of color light of illumination light converged onto corresponding respective color pixels of the spatial light modulation element from the respective transmission type hologram optical elements are crossed with each other.

31. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 29,

wherein the illumination optical system allows rays of color light different from each other of illumination light to be incident on respective transmission type hologram optical elements at diffraction acceptance angles of the respective transmission type hologram optical elements to thereby conduct color separation and convergence of the illumination light.

32. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 20,

wherein the number of layers of the transmission type hologram optical elements is 3 or more.

33. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 20,

wherein the respective transmission type hologram optical elements are adapted so that outgoing angles with respect to center incident angles of respective diffraction acceptance incident angles at an arbitrary wavelength of the visible region are different from each other by 5 degrees or more.

34. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 20,

wherein the spatial light modulation element is a reflection type spatial light modulation element.

35. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 20,

wherein a hologram surface of the transmission type laminated hologram optical element and a light modulation surface of the spatial light modulation element are caused to be in parallel to each other.

36. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 20,

wherein a spacing between a hologram surface of the transmission type laminated hologram optical element and a light modulation surface of the spatial light modulation element is 50 μ

m or less.

37. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 20,

wherein the transmission type laminated hologram optical element serves to allow rays of main light of illumination light to be obliquely incident on the spatial light modulation element.

38. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 20,

wherein the illumination optical system includes color separation means, and serves to allow only a portion of a spectrum of illumination light to be incident on the transmission type laminated hologram optical element.

39. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 20,

wherein the illumination optical system includes color-separation means, and serves to allow rays of light of different plural wavelength bands within a spectrum of illumination light to be incident at incident angles different from each other with respect to at least one transmission type hologram optical element.

40. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 39,

wherein rays of light of different wavelength bands which are incident on the transmission type hologram optical element are blue light and green light.

41. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 39,

wherein rays of light of different wavelength bands which are incident on the transmission type hologram optical element are blue light and red light.

42. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 20,

which comprises polarization selector means in an optical path between the spatial light modulation element and a projection optical system.

43. An image display apparatus comprising:

an illumination light source for emitting illumination light;

a transmission type polarization selective hologram optical element having a structure in that two regions where incident polarization azimuth dependencies of a refractive index are different from each other are arranged in order, and caused to be of the configuration such that a plurality of transmission type hologram optical elements in which diffraction acceptance incident angles are different from each other are laminated to diffract incident light;

an illumination optical system for guiding the illumination light to allow it to be incident on the transmission type polarization selective hologram optical element at an incident angle from more than 30°

to less than 90°

with respect to a normal of the illumination light receiving surface of the transmission type polarization selective hologram optical element;

a reflection type spatial light modulation element for modulating a polarization state of illumination light which has been diffracted by the transmission type polarization selective hologram optical element; and

a magnification optical system for magnifying a display image which has been modulated by the reflection type spatial light modulation element,

wherein respective transmission type hologram optical elements constituting the transmission type polarization selective hologram optical element are adapted so that outgoing angles with respect to center incident angles of respective diffraction acceptance incident angles at an arbitrary wavelength of the visible region are different from each other, and serves to diffract a P-polarized light component or an S-polarized light component of illumination light to be received mainly toward the reflection type spatial modulation element and to allow diffraction efficiency with respect to a polarization component perpendicular to a polarization component which is mainly diffracted at the first incidence of rays of illumination light which are re-incident after having undergone a phase modulation by the reflection type spatial light modulation element to be 10% or less so that 70% of the component or more is transmitted.

44. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 43,

wherein the respective transmission type hologram optical elements are adapted so that an outgoing angle range corresponding to an arbitrary incident angle range within said diffraction acceptance incident angle is smaller than said incident angle range.

45. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 43,

wherein a first polarization azimuth is P-polarized light.

46. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 43,

wherein each of said respective transmission type hologram optical elements is said polarization selective hologram optical element including a polymer dispersion liquid crystal material.

47. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 43,

wherein the transmission type hologram optical element has a convergence function.

48. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 43,

wherein the number of layers of the transmission type hologram optical elements is 3 or more.

49. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 43,

wherein the respective transmission type hologram optical elements are adapted so that outgoing angles with respect to center incident angles of respective diffraction acceptance incident angles at an arbitrary wavelength of the visible region are different from each other by 5 degrees or more.

50. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 43,

wherein the respective transmission type hologram optical elements constitute a micro-lens array, and serves to converge illumination light onto corresponding respective pixels of the spatial light modulation element.

51. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 50,

wherein at least one set or more of rays of main light of illumination light converged onto corresponding respective pixels of the spatial light modulation element from the respective transmission type hologram optical elements are crossed with each other.

52. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 43,

wherein the transmission type hologram optical elements constitute a micro-lens array, and have a color filter function to converge illumination light onto corresponding respective color pixels of the spatial light modulation element in the state where they are color-separated.

53. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 52,

wherein at least one set or more of rays of main light of respective rays of color light of illumination light converged onto corresponding respective color pixels of the spatial light modulation element from the respective transmission type hologram optical elements are crossed with each other.

54. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 52,

wherein the illumination optical system allows rays of color light different from each other of illumination light to be incident on the respective transmission type hologram optical elements at diffraction acceptance angles of the respective transmission type hologram optical elements to thereby conduct color separation and convergence of the illumination light.

55. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 43,

wherein a hologram surface of the transmission type polarization selective hologram optical element and a light modulation surface of the spatial light modulation element are caused to be in parallel to each other.

56. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 43,

wherein a spacing between a hologram surface of the transmission type polarization selective hologram optical element and a light modulation surface of the spatial light modulation element is 50 μ

m or less.

57. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 43,

wherein the transmission type polarization selective hologram optical element allow rays of main light of illumination light to be obliquely incident on the reflection type spatial light modulation element.

58. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 43,

wherein the illumination optical system includes color separation means, and serves to allow only a portion of a spectrum of illumination light to be incident on the transmission type polarization selective hologram optical element.

59. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 43,

wherein the illumination optical system includes color separation means, and serves to allow rays of light of different plural wavelength bands within a spectrum of illumination light to be incident at incident angles different from each other on at least one transmission type hologram optical element.

60. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 59,

wherein rays of light of different wavelength bands which are incident on the transmission type hologram optical element are blue light and green light.

61. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 59,

wherein rays of light of different wavelength bands which are incident on the transmission type hologram optical element are blue light and red light.

62. The image display apparatus as set forth in claim 43,

which comprises polarization selector means in an optical path between the spatial light modulation element and a projection optical system.