Illumination system eliminating laser speckle and projection TV employing the same

• US 7,746,414 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2005
• Issued: 06/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Dho, Sangwhoe, Serafimovich, Pavel, Cheong, Byoungho, Kim, Sungha
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Trang U
• Application Number:
  US11/223,997
• Publication Number:
  US 20060109386A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,750 Days
• Field of Search: 348744-747, 348756-757, 348760-761, 348790-791, 359/622, 359/634, 359/707, 359242-245
• US Class Current: 348/744
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/48 Laser speckle optics
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/3129 scanning a light beam on the display screen scanning a light beam on a screen in displays other than projection devices G09G3/02; scanning systems in general G02B26/10; projectors using laser light sources in general H04N9/3161

Abstract

Provided are an illumination system, a projection TV employing the illumination system, and a projection method. The illumination system includes: a laser light source which emits a plurality of laser beams including beamlets along different optical axes; and a diffractive optical element which spatially averages the laser beamlets by superimposing the laser beamlets to remove speckles of the laser beamlets and which shapes each of the laser beamlets.

Claims

1. An illumination system comprising:

a laser light source which emits a plurality of laser beams including beamlets and having different wavelengths along different optical axes; and

a diffractive optical element which spatially averages the laser beamlets by superimposing the laser beamlets on a display device to remove speckles of the laser beamlets, and which shapes each of the laser beamlets to have a cross-sectional shape matching the cross-sectional shape of the display device,

wherein the diffractive optical element has fragments corresponding to the different wavelengths of the plurality of laser beams.

2. The illumination system of claim 1, wherein the laser beamlets are emitted from the laser light source unit parallel to each other and are respectively focused on different regions of the diffractive optical element.

3. The illumination system of claim 1, wherein the diffractive optical element diffracts the laser beamlets at different angles according to the wavelengths of the beamlets to form off-axis images.

4. The illumination system of claim 1, wherein the laser beams are respectively focused onto the fragments of the diffractive optical element, and each of the fragments of the diffractive optical element has a unique diffraction pattern.

5. A projection TV comprising:

a laser light source which emits a plurality of laser beams including beamlets and having different wavelengths along different optical axes;

a diffractive optical element which spatially averages the laser beamlets by overlapping the laser beamlets to remove speckles of the laser beamlets;

a display device which forms images using the laser beamlets that have passed through the diffractive optical element; and

a projection lens unit which enlarges and projects the images onto a screen,

wherein the diffractive optical element overlaps the laser beamlets on the display device, and shapes each of the laser beamlets to have a cross-sectional shape matching the cross-sectional shape of the display device, and

wherein the diffractive optical element has fragments corresponding to the different wavelengths of the plurality of laser beams.

6. The projection TV of claim 5, wherein the laser beamlets are emitted from the laser light source unit parallel to each other and are respectively focused on different regions of the diffractive optical element.

7. The projection TV of claim 5, wherein the diffractive optical element diffracts the laser beamlets at different angles according to the wavelengths of the beamlets to form off-axis images.

8. The projection TV of claim 5, wherein the laser beamlets are respectively focused onto the fragments of the diffractive optical element, and each of the fragments of the diffractive optical element has a unique diffraction pattern.

9. The projection TV of claim 5, wherein the display device is one selected from the group consisting of a transmissive liquid crystal display, a liquid crystal on silicon display, a deformable micromirror device, and a grating light valve.

10. A projection method comprising:

emitting a plurality of laser beams including beamlets and having different wavelengths along different optical axes from a laser light source;

focusing each of the laser beamlets on a different diffraction pattern of a diffractive optical element;

spatially averaging the laser beamlets;

superimposing the laser beamlets on a display device;

shaping each of the plurality of laser beamlets to have a cross-sectional shape matching the cross-sectional shape of the display device;

forming images using the laser beamlets that have passed through the diffractive optical element and have become incident on the display device; and

enlarging and projecting the images onto a screen,

wherein the diffractive optical element has fragments corresponding to the different wavelengths of the plurality of laser beams.