Three states of micro mirror device

• US 7,933,060 B2
• Filed: 02/18/2009
• Issued: 04/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ignite USA (Ignite)
• Original Assignee: Olympus Corporation, Silicon Quest Kabushiki-Kaisha
• Inventors: Sugimoto, Naoya, Maeda, Yoshihiro, Ichikawa, Hirotoshi, Ishii, Fusao
• Primary Examiner(s): Choi; William C
• Application Number:
  US12/378,656
• Publication Number:
  US 20090201568A1
• Time in Patent Office: 797 Days
• Field of Search: 359/198.1, 359/199.2, 359/199.3, 359/199.4, 359/200.6, 359/200.7, 359/200.8, 359/224.1, 359/224.2, 359/290, 359/295, 359/298
• US Class Current: 359/290
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 26/0833 the reflecting element being a micromechanical device, e.g. a MEMS mirror, DMD G02B26/0825 takes precedence; micromechanical devices in general B81B

Abstract

The present invention provides a spatial light modulator, comprising a mirror modulating a light emitted from a light source, wherein the mirror is further controlled to operate with at least three stationary states whereby an image is projected with a gray scale expression through a combination of modulation of the light operated in the three stationary states.

Claims

1. A spatial light modulator, comprising:

a mirror for modulating a light emitted from a light source, wherein the mirror is further controllable to operate with at least three stationary states whereby an image is projected with a gray scale expression through a combination of modulation of the light operated in the three stationary states; and

the mirror is controlled to repeat the three stationary states in sequence for displaying the image with the gray scale expression.

2. The spatial light modulator according to claim 1, wherein:

the three stationary states comprising a horizontal state and two opposite deflection states with the mirror deflected to two mutually opposite directions relative the horizontal state.

3. The spatial light modulator according to claim 2, wherein:

the modulator is controlled to operate at the three different states for modulating a light for displaying images with different quantities of light with a relationship among the quantities of light in the three stationary states represented by;

[Quantity of light in a deflection state A]>

[Quantity of light in the horizontal state]>

[Quantity of light in a deflection state B],

wherein the deflection states in mutually opposite directions relative to the horizontal state in the middle are defined as the deflection state A and deflection state B.

4. A spatial light modulator, comprising:

a mirror for modulating a light emitted from a light source, wherein the mirror is further controllable to operate with at least three stationary states whereby an image is projected with a gray scale expression through a combination of modulation of the light operated in the three stationary states; and

the mirror is controlled to operate in any of the three stationary states no more than 10 microseconds.

5. A mirror device, comprising:

an elastic hinge disposed on and extended from a substrate; and

a mirror supported by the elastic hinge to deflect to different angles for modulating an illumination light, wherein the mirror is controlled to operate in different deflection states and a horizontal state whereby an illumination light modulated by the mirror is controlled to display images with a controllable variation of light intensity according to a predefined gray scale.

6. The mirror device according to claim 5, wherein:

the horizontal state is controlled to operate in a state when the mirror is stabilized after shifting from the deflection state.

7. The mirror device according to claim 5, wherein:

the elastic hinge is composed of a semiconductor material.

8. The mirror device according to claim 5, wherein:

the elastic hinge is composed of a material having an electric resistance equal to or greater than 0.1 giga-ohms.

9. The mirror device according to claim 5, wherein:

the mirror is controlled to operate in the horizontal state for generating smaller variations of light intensities between the horizontal state and the two deflection states thus generating a reduced level of controllable gray scale.