CA2356555A1 - Optical assembly for reflective light valves - Google Patents
Optical assembly for reflective light valves Download PDFInfo
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- CA2356555A1 CA2356555A1 CA002356555A CA2356555A CA2356555A1 CA 2356555 A1 CA2356555 A1 CA 2356555A1 CA 002356555 A CA002356555 A CA 002356555A CA 2356555 A CA2356555 A CA 2356555A CA 2356555 A1 CA2356555 A1 CA 2356555A1
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Classifications
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B27/00—Optical systems or apparatus not provided for by any of the groups G02B1/00 - G02B26/00, G02B30/00
- G02B27/10—Beam splitting or combining systems
- G02B27/1006—Beam splitting or combining systems for splitting or combining different wavelengths
- G02B27/102—Beam splitting or combining systems for splitting or combining different wavelengths for generating a colour image from monochromatic image signal sources
- G02B27/1026—Beam splitting or combining systems for splitting or combining different wavelengths for generating a colour image from monochromatic image signal sources for use with reflective spatial light modulators
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B27/00—Optical systems or apparatus not provided for by any of the groups G02B1/00 - G02B26/00, G02B30/00
- G02B27/10—Beam splitting or combining systems
- G02B27/14—Beam splitting or combining systems operating by reflection only
- G02B27/145—Beam splitting or combining systems operating by reflection only having sequential partially reflecting surfaces
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B27/00—Optical systems or apparatus not provided for by any of the groups G02B1/00 - G02B26/00, G02B30/00
- G02B27/10—Beam splitting or combining systems
- G02B27/14—Beam splitting or combining systems operating by reflection only
- G02B27/149—Beam splitting or combining systems operating by reflection only using crossed beamsplitting surfaces, e.g. cross-dichroic cubes or X-cubes
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N9/00—Details of colour television systems
- H04N9/12—Picture reproducers
- H04N9/31—Projection devices for colour picture display, e.g. using electronic spatial light modulators [ESLM]
- H04N9/3102—Projection devices for colour picture display, e.g. using electronic spatial light modulators [ESLM] using two-dimensional electronic spatial light modulators
- H04N9/3105—Projection devices for colour picture display, e.g. using electronic spatial light modulators [ESLM] using two-dimensional electronic spatial light modulators for displaying all colours simultaneously, e.g. by using two or more electronic spatial light modulators
Abstract
The invention relates to a compact polarization insensitive prism assembly f or projection display systems using reflective light valves. The systems comprising a trichroic prism assembly of three coated prisms, and a speciall y shaped, trapezoidal in the embodiment, beam splitter. The angles of the pris ms are optimised for best colour separation and recombining with the least polarization insensitivity. The assembly forms a compact and spectrally efficient optical arrangement for reflective LCD projectors.
Description
WO 00/3843? PCTJGB99/04369 OPTICAL ASSEMBLY FOR REFLECTIVE LIGHT VALVES
The invention relates to an optical system for reflective mode fight valve full colour display, and more particularly to a compact and highly optically efficient trichroic prism assembly (TPA), and to a polarizing beam splitter (PBS). This TPA and PBS combination is placed between the objective lens and the LCD pane! or other kind of reflective light valves to form a compact projection system.
Conventional projection displays employ mainly transmittive fight valves, such as active matrix LCD panels. On the other hand, reflective mode light valves offer many advantages such as high aperture ratio, high light efficiency and good projection image quality.
Large scale projection systems based on reflective liquid crystal light valves (LCLV) have been successfully made and deployed. More recently, crystalline silicon based reflective mode CMOS liquid crystal light valves are available. They offer the additional advantages of full integration of CMOS circuits on the chip and economy of scale in mass production. Compact optical systems are needed for this new class of light valves.
In a reflective projector system, a collimated light source is first split into three primary colours by two dichroic colour filters (usually with a first blue filter and a second red filter). Then these light beams are directed onto the corresponding light valves along different optical paths. The reflected light beams, having changed polariLations, are then recombined using two dichroic filters. These filters can be the same set of colour separating filters or different ones. The reflected SCJBSTITLJTE SE~EET (RULE 2G) light is separated f rom the incident light using a PPS and finally projected onto the screen. U.S. Fatent No. 4,687,301 disclosed one such colour separation-recombining optical assembly. Dichroic filters immersed in index matching fluid are used for both colour separation and recombination. The angle of incidence on the blue filter is 24°
while it is 1 2 ° on the red fitter.
U.S. Patent No. 4,969,730 describes a 3-prism assembly which is commonly known as a colour splitting prism. This prism acts as both a colour separator and a colour recombiner. It is in principle the same as the invention disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 4,687,301, but much improved in terms of ease of fabrication. The blue filter and red.fiiter are coated onto the surfaces of prisms. The angles of incidence are all 30 ° . A PBS is also used to separate the incident beam from the polarization modulated reflected beam.
U.S. Patent No. 5,644,432 describes a projection system where the colour separator and recombiner consist of the same 3-prism assembly. A PBS is used to separate the incident and reflected light beams. In this case, there is no air gap in the blue filter so that the 3 prisms can be glued together. The blue and red dichroic filters have large angles of incidence of 30 ° in order to maintain a short back working distance for the projective lens.
The optical system of a full colour reflective mode LCLV projection, must have the following characteristics: (1) Large output light flux, which means large system optical invariance, or system etandue with LCLV, (2) Duai-polarization utilization, (3) High efficiency colour SUBS'TITLTTE SHEET (RULE 26) WO 00/3843= PCT/GB99/04369 separaticn and recombination ~r~hi~h is pclarization independent, and (~) Compact and small retrofocus for the projection lens. The colour separation and recombination prisms disclosed in the prier art do not meet these requirements. It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a colour splitting recombining prism with small incident angles for dichroic coatings.
Current liquid crystal (LCD) projection displays arc based rnainlv on transmittive LCD li=>ht valves as the image generator. The drawback of this kind ol' LCD projector is that the aperture ratio (, A R) of the LCD pane! is small. It ~ets smaller as the resolution of the li'ht valve increases. For example, the AR is about O.n7 for SVGA displays, and is about 0.5 fir XGA L CD panels . In addition to l~w light efficiency, low AR also requires a black mat;i~ to hide the transistors.
which produces pixelation. Depiaeiization is therefore necessary. adding complexity to the optical system desibn. In this type of transmittive projector, different sets of ColUr filters are used for the sepa:ation of the input ii~ht into three primary colors and for recombirtin~ them after Qoine through the LCD light valves. The color_ recombiner is usually performed with the X-cube.
Reflective mode silicon CyIOS liquid crystal light valves can overcome the drawback of low A.R in transmittive LCD panels. The AR of silicon based CwIOS
LCD can be as nigh as 9?%, regardless of the resolution. It is because that the transistor car. be hidden beneath the reflective mirror on the pi:~el. Thus the light efficiency and the quality of projected image can be Greatly improved.
The projector optics of the reflective light valve is decidedly more complicated than transmittive ones. One consideration is the change of s and p polarization in the light path.
.=~ full color projector can either be a time sequential type employing one retZective LCD panel or a 3-panel type with all 3 primary colors on at the same time. This application is concerned with the latter. Such projectors generally renuire an opticsi sub-system to separate the primary colors from the input white light source ~;typic111y an arc lamp), and another sub-system to recombine the ~
primary colors after modulation by the :eflecti~re ii~ht valves. The color separator and the SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE ''fi) sojur recombines stn oe the ~ a j a ~~.m t..": c;: c~cic~ ~,; ;h~~. c:ln b~ phvsicalj;~ clt~r,::,!.
:~or a: compac: proiectiun s»stem, th° latter is much pr;:rerre,d.
1 nC;re ar° S: 'sera; r~'''~cjitn,~, 1(;r ti7~ UptIC:i Sv:b~lSS:',rrlbly j:or r~IIC'::t:Ve jj_n,l~t valve baS(:d CUlor brUi~::tOrS. T ~~ 1'~tS(:: eiem~nt tUr rc:~~t:;:llv~
li~?17l vZjv; 1S 1 polarizinn beam splitter ~;PPS~, which rel~e;:ts s-pe,jarized li~_ht and transmit p-polarized light. In the mc,~st strai'_>:~tturward design. ~ PBS can bc: used t~or the primar;~ CUlur pane.'s. Culur separation and color recombining can be dune: in separate sets of filters similar to the transmittive proi~;:turs. Fi_. 1 shows the basic setup. Dichroic ret'7ectors are used to ret7ect red and blue Ii~hts. The R, G, B
channels are sent to the ~ PBS and the 3 ligj:t valves. The image-modulated reflected lights are then sent to the color recombining X-prism for projection.
Because the selective coatings in the X-prism work best for s-polarized light, half wave plates are usually needed for the red and blue channels to rotate the p-polarized light from the ret7ective LCD. This system is thus auite cnrnole:~.
According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a polarizing beam splitter having a non-cubic configuration, the arrangement being such that angles of incidence on dichroic coatings or filters may be maintained of small value.
The sputter may be trapezoidal in configuration.
According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided apparatus for full colour projection display, including a prism assembly adapted to function as a colour separator and colour recombines, and a plurality of reflective fight valves.
The prism assembly may be trichroic.
The following calculations illustrate the invention, which can provide an optical sub-system where the angles of incidence of the fight beams on the dichroic coatings are kept as small as possible. This is due to the phenomenon of polarisation separation. A dielectric SUB~TITITTI; SHEET (RULE 2Gj J
multilayer optical coating used to form the dichroic filter always consists of periodic stacks of high refractive index layer (H) and low reflective index layers (L). For nHd~.=n,d~_=~/4, the ref'tected fight is given by the expression:
- -sm -, ~J.Y - ~7 c r ~ ~7;~ = ~7c where diR is the bandwidth of the reflected light, ~7~, and r7~ are the effective admittances of the H and L layers respectively, r~H and r~~ are functions of the incident angle and the polarization state of the light.
>7;S=n,cosB; for s-polarization, and '~lp = ~' , for p-polarizaticn.
cosB~
Here i - H, or L and B; is the refractive angle in each film. The relation between B; and the incident angle B is given by the usual relationship npsinB= n;sinB;.
A prism assembly and non-polarizing beam sputter embodying the invention are hereinafter described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 shows graphically the sensitivity of dichroic coatings on polarization, the reflectance spectra varying as the incident angle is changed, as shown at (a), (b) and (c);
Fig. 2 is the schematics of a typical projection system;
Fig. 3 shows details of the colour splitting/recombining assembly;
Fig. 4 shows the non-cubic polarizing beam splitter.
SU~3STIT('TE SHEET (RULE 26) WO 00138432 PCT/GB99/t)4369 f?
Fib. ~, Optical system for a retlective color proje:aer using conventional configuration.-goof .
ri=. 6 Optical system for a reliective color rojection display a P . m;...oyintr a trichroic prism assembly Fig. 7 Calculated reflectance spectra for the red and blue edge reflection coatings for incidence angles of (a) Io°, (b) 30°, (c) 4J°. Solid curves: p-polarized light. Dotted curves: s-polarized light ; and Fig. $ The new trichroic prism assembly together with the new non-cubic PBS.
SUBSTITf.'TE SHEET (RULE 2G) The effective admittance r~ of the thin film changes as the incident angle 8 changes. The difference betvveen the reflectance spectra of the s-, p- polarized fight becomes larger and larger as the incident angle increases. Therefore large incident angle will induce large separation between the spectra reflection band of s-polarized light and p-polarized light. Fig. 1 shows the spectral reflectance of a red edge filter and a blue edge filter plotted together. These coatings are used' for a trichroic prism assembly in separating the 3 primary colours of red, green and blue. In the calculation, angles of incidence of 16 ° (a), 30 ° (b) and 45 ° (c) (Fig. 1 ) are used respectively. The solid curves pertain to p-polarized light while the dashed curves are for s-poiarized fight. The coating is assumed to be between air and glass (n9 = 1 .5163).
Figure 1 clearly shows that, as the angle of incidence increases, the reflective spectra for the s- and p-polarized lights become more and more dissimilar. This is highly undesirable since the reflective light valve works on polarization modulation. A change in reflectance upon polarization change implies a loss of reflected signal onto the projected screen and a shift in the colour coordinate and loss of colour fidelity. The 45 ° curves (c) correspond to the case of the X-cube colour separator or recombines. It is clear that the X-cube cannot be used as a colour separator and colour recombines at the same time. On the other hand, an incidence angle of 16 ° (a) is acceptable, as seen from Fig. 1 . This is the incident angle achieved in the invention.
Figure 2 shows the preferred embodiment of the invention. This is a SL1BSTITIiTE SHEET (RCtLE 26) WO 00/38432 PCT/GB99/(14369 projection system employing reflective light valves. Three light valves 1 3, 1 4, 1 5 are used for the three primary colours of red, green and blue respectively. The light source 22 is first collimated by the reflector of the light source itself, and the lens combination 1 9 and 21. A cold mirror 20 is used to filter out the unwanted infrared radiation which otherwise will produce excessive heating in the light valves. The light beam then enters a non-cubic, in the embodiment, trapezoidal shaped, PBS 17. The coating on the inside surface 17b of this PBS is such that p-polarized light is transmitted and s-polarized Light is reflected. The p-polarized reflected fight then enters the trichroic prism assembly 10, 1 1 , 1 2.
Figure 3 shows the details of the trichroic prism assembly which contains three prisms. Prism 7 0, instead of having an entrance surface 10a perpendicular to the optical axis, which generally the case previously is at an angle of 90°-~,o to the optical axis. This allows the angle of incidence onto surface 10b to be small.
The first dichroic coating is coated on surface 1 Ob of prism 10. This coating is designed to reflect one primary colour. In one embodiment, blue colour is reflected. In another embodiment, red colour can be reflected. !t is important that the reflected colour be impinging on surface 1 Oa at an angle which is larger than the critical angle for total internal reflection of fight inside the prism. The totally internally reflected light will then exit surface 10c more or less perpendicularly to be incident on the reflective light valve 13. The reflected light from the light valve 13 is modulated in polarization. This reflected light goes through the same path and impinges on surface coating 17b of SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) the PBS. It will either be reflected back to the light source or transmitted and be projected onto the screen depending on the action of light valve 1 3. Thus the light valve wilt induce an image on the screen through polarization modulation.
At surface 10b, the transmitted light enters prism 1 1 and impinges upon surface 1 1 b. This surface is coated with a dichroic filter such that one colour component, usually the red colour, is reflected and directed towards the air gap 1 1 a. The angle of incidence of the light on the air gap is such that total internal reflection occurs. The totally internally reflected light is sent to light valve 1 5. The outlet surface 1 1 c is nearly perpendicular to the light beam. The reflective light valve will modulate the polarization of the light beam. Upon reflection and retracing the original beam path, this modulated light will impinge on surface 17b of the PSS. Again, this light beam will either be reflected or transmitted for projection depending on the action of the light valve.
The last colour component of the light, usually the green colour, will be transmitted through prism 12, and directed towards light valve 14. The reflective fight from the light valve 14 will trace back the main optical axis. Similar to the other components, this reflected light will form an image on the screen depending on the polarization modulation by light valve 14.
All the air/glass 1 Oa, 1 Oc, 1 1 a, 1 1 c and the outlet surTaces of prism 12 are coated with AR coatings. The AR coatings on surfaces 1 1 a and 10a are special broadband AR coatings. It must take into SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE '?() WO (10/3843'_' account the phase change induced by the dichroic coatings and total internal reflection. There are aiso air gaps between prism 10 and prism 1 1 , and between prism 10 and the PBS 17. T hese air gaps are needed for total internal reflection. Alternatively, in another embodiment, special coatings may be used for reflection of the various colour components without the air gap.
The angles of the three prisms are important. They are such tha t the angles of incidence are minimized, and total internal reflection can be achieved. Thus let the incident angles of the two dichroic coatings (in 1 Ob and 1 1 b) be the same and noted as 8. It can be shown easily that:
8 > sin -1 j n J + NA (2) where n is the refractive index of the prism and NA is the numerical aperture of the projection system. Therefore, if the refractive index of the prism is 1.52, and the F number of the system is 3.5, then from equation (2), one can have a 0 of 16 ° . This is the smallest angle possible. If one allows the dichroic filters to have different angles of incidence, then other values can be obtained.
The other angles of the prism assembly from these equations are:
~~ = 32 ° , ~3 = 74 ° , Also ~~ should satisfy v +B>sinW(I
NA
'n J (3) SUBSTITITTE SHEET (RULE ?6) for total internal reflection in prism 10. If one takes ~, to be 32 °, then prism 10 and prism 1 1 vviil be identical in angles. This should make manufacturing cf such prism assemblies easier.
The size of the prisms will be determined by the size of the reflective light valves and the path lengths of three colour light beams inside the prism assembly. It must be mentioned that the angle of incidence also depends on the refractive index of the prism. If a higher refractive index prism is used, the angle of incidence of the dichroic coatings can be decreased even more.
In this embodiment, the two dichroic coatings have the same angle of incidence. This is useful for mass production purposes. However, it is not a necessary condition. !t is clear that, from Figure 2, the polarization effects on the reflectance spectrum is quite small.
Moreover, the small angle of incidence will also decrease the dependence of the reflectance on variations in incidence angle (the acceptance angle). A larger acceptance angle of the dichroic coating implies that this prism structure can also improve the numerical aperture of the entire optical system.
Figure 4 shows a non-cubic shaped polarizing beam splitter. This PBS
17 consists of a right angle prism which is the same as other conventional PBS, and another part with a special angle of ~ = 73 ° .
This is needed to match the surface 10a of prism 10. Both surfaces 10a and 17a are coated with AR coatings. Surface 17b is coated with broadband AR coating, fn the preferred embodiment, the material of PBS 17 should be 8K7 glass, so that this PBS wilt have SUBSTITUTE 5HEET (RULE ~G) low tension, high tr ansparency at short wavelengths, and high polarization efficiency.
Thus using the invention described herein, with reference to the accompanying drawings, there is provided an optical sub-system for full colour projection displays which employs reflective light valves.
This sub-system consists of a non-cubic polarizing beam splitter, and a trichroic prism assembly, which can act as both a colour separator and a colour recombines for the 3 primary colours. The trichroic prism assembly contains two dichroic edge filter coatings that separate three primary colours, said red, green and blue colours, of the incident light into three correspondent channels, respectively. These two dichroic coatings are kept inside the prism assembly and are optimized for small incident angles and low polarization dependence.
The same trichroic prism assernbiy is used for colour recombining.
The 3 colour channels are modulated in polarizations by the reflective fight valves. The light beams essentially retrace the original fight path and go through the same dichroic filters, albeit with different poiarizations. The dichroic filters are polarization insensitive.
In order to keep the incident angles on the dichroic filters of the trichroic prism assembly to be small, a non-cubic polarizing beam sputter (PBS) is provided. By allowing the PBS to have a trapezoidal shape, the angles of incidence on the dichroic filters can be maintained to be small.
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) WU 00/38432 PCT/GI~99/04369 Alternatively, fcr compact coio- projectors employing re~lective iicht valves, the color sepa ration and the color recombir~atior. should be performed with the same set of optical coatings. A common optical assembly to accomplish this tasi~ is the so-called Philips prism. This trichroic prism assembly (TPA) works in conjunction with only one PBS to form the core of a COmpaCt color reflective projector.
This system is shown in Fig.
The PBS first sent either the p or s polarized Ii~ht into the TPA. The choice of s or p polarization, depends on the position of the arc lamp and the projector lens.
The first two prisms in the TPA are 30° prisms. The coatings on their exit surfaces are used to separate out the blue and red colors. Air daps are provided as shown so that total internal reflection can occur to reflect the red and blue beams out of the wav.
The three color channels leave the TPA and impinge on the reflective LCD
SUBSTITUTE SFIEET (RULE 2C) 1 ~.
li~_ht valves. Tne action of the nematic liquid 'rysta: is to :ontrol the polariz2tion state of the reflected ii~ahc. u!znv or,tical modes hav:~e beer, pr oposed for the LCD
panels.' In all oases. the re:~ected Ii~>mt is rotate:.a in pol rization by 90°. if the y:~c, ;S SLIC:Cted. This ii~ht b~;tm r~trzces the same li~_ht path as the incident beam and !~oes through the PBS.
~T-fence the hiz:: reflectance coating for both the blue and red li~hts have to function for both s and p polarized light. This is a ditticult requirement for coating design., It is well-known that it is impossible for a dichroic coating to have n' U
polarization dependence unless the ankle of incidence is zero. Because of the requirement of total internal reflection for the red and blue beams, the angle of mciaence on the blue and red color filter surfaces is limited to at least 30°. Thus the conventional TPA has severe polarization dependence in ics reflectance spectrum.
This so-called s-p polarization split causes severe lUSS Of Ii_oht efficiency and loss of color fidelity in the disolav.
Figure '7 shows the calculated reflectance spectra for the red a nd blu,.
coatings for three different incidence angles of 16°, 30° and 4~°. The red and blue edge filter spectra are plotted in the same figures, representing 3-color-se arati p on.
The solid curves are for the p-polarized while the dashed curves are for s-polarized light. The coatings are assumed to be wedeed between dIass with an index n of s 1.5163. It can be seen clearly that, as the angle of incidence increases. the separation of the spectra between s- and p- polarizations increases greatly.
This so-called s-p pol<lrization split will cause a loss in reflected light intensity. There will also be a shift in t:- a color co-ordinate of the separated and re;:ombined light.
It is an object of the invention to seek to mitigate this disadvantage.
The s-p polarization split for optical coatings comes from the fact that the specific admittance of light is different for s- and p-polarized light. The admittances SLJBSTITI1TE SFIEET (RULE 26) WO 00/3843' PCT/GB99/04369 l~
are functions of the incident anble and the poiaria~:o;~ state or the light°. They are =ven by %Jl~ = l7i Cos ~ rOr S-pG~ar i".'IiCn ~ ~ ) anC
_ _ n;
cos 0 t°' p-p°larization (=) In eqs. (1) and (?), the subscript i stands for the ith layer in the coatin~
stack.
The effective admittance r~ of the chin film changes as the incident an~ie of light is changed. And the difference bet~,veen the s and p polarization sDectrutn becomes much la: her as the incident ankle increases. Therefore large incident a:~ale will induce a large separation between the reflectance spectra of s-polari~ ed and'p-polarized light. This is evidenced in the calculated spectra in Fia. 7, The crux to the problem of optimiano the trichroic color separation/recombinaticn prism is in reducing the an~Ie of incidence of the ii~ht on the dichroic coatintrs. This incidence angle is limited by the requirement of total internal reflection for the blue and red channels. Thus there is provided a t:ichroic color separation/recombination prism assembly where the angle of incidence on the dichroic coatings has been reduced to I6°.
The design of this prism is shown in Fib. $.~The main idea is that we can allow the PBS to have a non-orthogonal, rather then the conventional cubic shap_ e.
This will relax the design conditions and allow a smaller ankle of incidence.
A blue high reflectance coating is applied on surface BC, and a red bleb reflectance coating is applied on surface CD. The incident angles of the two dichroic coatings are the same and denoted as B. Now the condition of total internal retiection on the cvo inside surfaces (AB and BC) must be maintained.
Moreover.
SUBSTITUTE SHI.ET (RULE 26) :t is assumed !hat su;~aces .~.8 and CD are parallel. Tme rein tior: bet~mee;;
the va:ous angles of the Tp~. must satisfies folicwin~ conditions:
6'=
f~ ) ~1= _ sir. -1 ~-' ~ .:. sin -1 u;4 v rt ~~~ % sin -1.~ 1 ~ _ sin 1 N~
a ane ~3 = 9G" - g (6) Therefore B ~ 1 sin ~ 1 \~ =- sin -~ ~,ra - ~j~~ ~;
In these equations, n is the refractive index of the prism material and NA is the numerical aperture of the projection system. ?herefore, if the refractive index of the prism is I.5?, and the F-number of the optics is 4, then from eq. (7), the smallest angle of incidence B allowed is Ib°. Additionally, it can be seen that ~=Io° and ~;=74°. The size of the prisms of course depends on the size of the LCD
li~ht valves.
Thus there is provided a very simple prism assembly where the nvo dichroic coatin_s have the same angles of incidence. F-ams ,a RC and BCD are similar, thus mai:in; mass production easier. It is clear from Fi'. ~ fhat this TPA has a sn~.alI and SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 2G) a Ii acceptable polarization e'tiect. Vlor°over, the small an~Ic: of incidence implies a small dispersion effect on the: incidence anzlN. ThereL~ore the dichroic coatings can have lar'e acceptance an'>les or a lame ~tnnciue. :;1I in all, this new pris;n structure can improve the numeric,il aperture ot~ the emir a optical system ~reatlv, while maintaining e;ccellent coi~r separation properties.
Both a conventional TPA and a new TpA were constructed t~or comparison.
The dichroic coatings applied have been optimized for red and blue light separation.
The data was taken usin2 a PR6~0 spectrometer. The- reflectance for the various polarizations and color coatings has been nor~naIized for comparison. Three peaks for the conventional TPA correspond to the output form the red, Green and blue channels of the TPA.
There was a shift in the spectra for s and p-polarizatians. The p-polarized reflectance is shifted to the blue by as much as 10 nm.
In the case pf the measured reflectance spectra for the new TP A, with an angle of incidence of 16°, it was found that there is ne~li~ible s-p polarization split.
This result is in good agreement with the numerical results in Fig..7.'The spectra for both the s-polarized and p-polarized IiQht are very sharp and identical.
This TPA
should be useful.for a compact color projector as shown in Fig. 6'.
In summary, we have shown that the major limitation for the design of a compact color projector using reflective LCD light valves is in the desijn of the color separator and recombines. By modifying the design of the conventional TPA, we were able to achieve a marked improvement in the s-p polarization split problem.
Thus using the invention, color separation and recombination can be achieved in a single set of optical elements with high fidelity. The angle of incidence on the dichroic coatings is preferably about lei°.
The prism hereinbefore described has the advantages of low s and p SUI3S'TITL1TE SHEET (RULE 2G) polarization dependence or: the reflectanc° spectrum. 1-ience it car.
be used for both color separation anti color recombining with poitlri~ation cha nee. ?he trichroic:
prism asse:mbiy can be used in z compa et color projector employing ret~ective iiquici crystal light valves.
The optical etandue and spectral!polarization effects are the ww major propertlca Uf the optical prU~ection SVSIem that need to be optlmlzed. Ti115 1S true fUr both reflective mode or transmittive mode projectors. For reflective projectors. the optical coatings are the major limits to the system etandue. The polarization splitting effect on the trichroic prism assembly is a significant cause of degradation of the optical system performance. The optical system proposed here provides a significant improvement over existing designs. The new TPA should find major applications in compact projectors such as desl~top monitors and flat panel televisions.
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RI1LE 26)
The invention relates to an optical system for reflective mode fight valve full colour display, and more particularly to a compact and highly optically efficient trichroic prism assembly (TPA), and to a polarizing beam splitter (PBS). This TPA and PBS combination is placed between the objective lens and the LCD pane! or other kind of reflective light valves to form a compact projection system.
Conventional projection displays employ mainly transmittive fight valves, such as active matrix LCD panels. On the other hand, reflective mode light valves offer many advantages such as high aperture ratio, high light efficiency and good projection image quality.
Large scale projection systems based on reflective liquid crystal light valves (LCLV) have been successfully made and deployed. More recently, crystalline silicon based reflective mode CMOS liquid crystal light valves are available. They offer the additional advantages of full integration of CMOS circuits on the chip and economy of scale in mass production. Compact optical systems are needed for this new class of light valves.
In a reflective projector system, a collimated light source is first split into three primary colours by two dichroic colour filters (usually with a first blue filter and a second red filter). Then these light beams are directed onto the corresponding light valves along different optical paths. The reflected light beams, having changed polariLations, are then recombined using two dichroic filters. These filters can be the same set of colour separating filters or different ones. The reflected SCJBSTITLJTE SE~EET (RULE 2G) light is separated f rom the incident light using a PPS and finally projected onto the screen. U.S. Fatent No. 4,687,301 disclosed one such colour separation-recombining optical assembly. Dichroic filters immersed in index matching fluid are used for both colour separation and recombination. The angle of incidence on the blue filter is 24°
while it is 1 2 ° on the red fitter.
U.S. Patent No. 4,969,730 describes a 3-prism assembly which is commonly known as a colour splitting prism. This prism acts as both a colour separator and a colour recombiner. It is in principle the same as the invention disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 4,687,301, but much improved in terms of ease of fabrication. The blue filter and red.fiiter are coated onto the surfaces of prisms. The angles of incidence are all 30 ° . A PBS is also used to separate the incident beam from the polarization modulated reflected beam.
U.S. Patent No. 5,644,432 describes a projection system where the colour separator and recombiner consist of the same 3-prism assembly. A PBS is used to separate the incident and reflected light beams. In this case, there is no air gap in the blue filter so that the 3 prisms can be glued together. The blue and red dichroic filters have large angles of incidence of 30 ° in order to maintain a short back working distance for the projective lens.
The optical system of a full colour reflective mode LCLV projection, must have the following characteristics: (1) Large output light flux, which means large system optical invariance, or system etandue with LCLV, (2) Duai-polarization utilization, (3) High efficiency colour SUBS'TITLTTE SHEET (RULE 26) WO 00/3843= PCT/GB99/04369 separaticn and recombination ~r~hi~h is pclarization independent, and (~) Compact and small retrofocus for the projection lens. The colour separation and recombination prisms disclosed in the prier art do not meet these requirements. It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a colour splitting recombining prism with small incident angles for dichroic coatings.
Current liquid crystal (LCD) projection displays arc based rnainlv on transmittive LCD li=>ht valves as the image generator. The drawback of this kind ol' LCD projector is that the aperture ratio (, A R) of the LCD pane! is small. It ~ets smaller as the resolution of the li'ht valve increases. For example, the AR is about O.n7 for SVGA displays, and is about 0.5 fir XGA L CD panels . In addition to l~w light efficiency, low AR also requires a black mat;i~ to hide the transistors.
which produces pixelation. Depiaeiization is therefore necessary. adding complexity to the optical system desibn. In this type of transmittive projector, different sets of ColUr filters are used for the sepa:ation of the input ii~ht into three primary colors and for recombirtin~ them after Qoine through the LCD light valves. The color_ recombiner is usually performed with the X-cube.
Reflective mode silicon CyIOS liquid crystal light valves can overcome the drawback of low A.R in transmittive LCD panels. The AR of silicon based CwIOS
LCD can be as nigh as 9?%, regardless of the resolution. It is because that the transistor car. be hidden beneath the reflective mirror on the pi:~el. Thus the light efficiency and the quality of projected image can be Greatly improved.
The projector optics of the reflective light valve is decidedly more complicated than transmittive ones. One consideration is the change of s and p polarization in the light path.
.=~ full color projector can either be a time sequential type employing one retZective LCD panel or a 3-panel type with all 3 primary colors on at the same time. This application is concerned with the latter. Such projectors generally renuire an opticsi sub-system to separate the primary colors from the input white light source ~;typic111y an arc lamp), and another sub-system to recombine the ~
primary colors after modulation by the :eflecti~re ii~ht valves. The color separator and the SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE ''fi) sojur recombines stn oe the ~ a j a ~~.m t..": c;: c~cic~ ~,; ;h~~. c:ln b~ phvsicalj;~ clt~r,::,!.
:~or a: compac: proiectiun s»stem, th° latter is much pr;:rerre,d.
1 nC;re ar° S: 'sera; r~'''~cjitn,~, 1(;r ti7~ UptIC:i Sv:b~lSS:',rrlbly j:or r~IIC'::t:Ve jj_n,l~t valve baS(:d CUlor brUi~::tOrS. T ~~ 1'~tS(:: eiem~nt tUr rc:~~t:;:llv~
li~?17l vZjv; 1S 1 polarizinn beam splitter ~;PPS~, which rel~e;:ts s-pe,jarized li~_ht and transmit p-polarized light. In the mc,~st strai'_>:~tturward design. ~ PBS can bc: used t~or the primar;~ CUlur pane.'s. Culur separation and color recombining can be dune: in separate sets of filters similar to the transmittive proi~;:turs. Fi_. 1 shows the basic setup. Dichroic ret'7ectors are used to ret7ect red and blue Ii~hts. The R, G, B
channels are sent to the ~ PBS and the 3 ligj:t valves. The image-modulated reflected lights are then sent to the color recombining X-prism for projection.
Because the selective coatings in the X-prism work best for s-polarized light, half wave plates are usually needed for the red and blue channels to rotate the p-polarized light from the ret7ective LCD. This system is thus auite cnrnole:~.
According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a polarizing beam splitter having a non-cubic configuration, the arrangement being such that angles of incidence on dichroic coatings or filters may be maintained of small value.
The sputter may be trapezoidal in configuration.
According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided apparatus for full colour projection display, including a prism assembly adapted to function as a colour separator and colour recombines, and a plurality of reflective fight valves.
The prism assembly may be trichroic.
The following calculations illustrate the invention, which can provide an optical sub-system where the angles of incidence of the fight beams on the dichroic coatings are kept as small as possible. This is due to the phenomenon of polarisation separation. A dielectric SUB~TITITTI; SHEET (RULE 2Gj J
multilayer optical coating used to form the dichroic filter always consists of periodic stacks of high refractive index layer (H) and low reflective index layers (L). For nHd~.=n,d~_=~/4, the ref'tected fight is given by the expression:
- -sm -, ~J.Y - ~7 c r ~ ~7;~ = ~7c where diR is the bandwidth of the reflected light, ~7~, and r7~ are the effective admittances of the H and L layers respectively, r~H and r~~ are functions of the incident angle and the polarization state of the light.
>7;S=n,cosB; for s-polarization, and '~lp = ~' , for p-polarizaticn.
cosB~
Here i - H, or L and B; is the refractive angle in each film. The relation between B; and the incident angle B is given by the usual relationship npsinB= n;sinB;.
A prism assembly and non-polarizing beam sputter embodying the invention are hereinafter described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 shows graphically the sensitivity of dichroic coatings on polarization, the reflectance spectra varying as the incident angle is changed, as shown at (a), (b) and (c);
Fig. 2 is the schematics of a typical projection system;
Fig. 3 shows details of the colour splitting/recombining assembly;
Fig. 4 shows the non-cubic polarizing beam splitter.
SU~3STIT('TE SHEET (RULE 26) WO 00138432 PCT/GB99/t)4369 f?
Fib. ~, Optical system for a retlective color proje:aer using conventional configuration.-goof .
ri=. 6 Optical system for a reliective color rojection display a P . m;...oyintr a trichroic prism assembly Fig. 7 Calculated reflectance spectra for the red and blue edge reflection coatings for incidence angles of (a) Io°, (b) 30°, (c) 4J°. Solid curves: p-polarized light. Dotted curves: s-polarized light ; and Fig. $ The new trichroic prism assembly together with the new non-cubic PBS.
SUBSTITf.'TE SHEET (RULE 2G) The effective admittance r~ of the thin film changes as the incident angle 8 changes. The difference betvveen the reflectance spectra of the s-, p- polarized fight becomes larger and larger as the incident angle increases. Therefore large incident angle will induce large separation between the spectra reflection band of s-polarized light and p-polarized light. Fig. 1 shows the spectral reflectance of a red edge filter and a blue edge filter plotted together. These coatings are used' for a trichroic prism assembly in separating the 3 primary colours of red, green and blue. In the calculation, angles of incidence of 16 ° (a), 30 ° (b) and 45 ° (c) (Fig. 1 ) are used respectively. The solid curves pertain to p-polarized light while the dashed curves are for s-poiarized fight. The coating is assumed to be between air and glass (n9 = 1 .5163).
Figure 1 clearly shows that, as the angle of incidence increases, the reflective spectra for the s- and p-polarized lights become more and more dissimilar. This is highly undesirable since the reflective light valve works on polarization modulation. A change in reflectance upon polarization change implies a loss of reflected signal onto the projected screen and a shift in the colour coordinate and loss of colour fidelity. The 45 ° curves (c) correspond to the case of the X-cube colour separator or recombines. It is clear that the X-cube cannot be used as a colour separator and colour recombines at the same time. On the other hand, an incidence angle of 16 ° (a) is acceptable, as seen from Fig. 1 . This is the incident angle achieved in the invention.
Figure 2 shows the preferred embodiment of the invention. This is a SL1BSTITIiTE SHEET (RCtLE 26) WO 00/38432 PCT/GB99/(14369 projection system employing reflective light valves. Three light valves 1 3, 1 4, 1 5 are used for the three primary colours of red, green and blue respectively. The light source 22 is first collimated by the reflector of the light source itself, and the lens combination 1 9 and 21. A cold mirror 20 is used to filter out the unwanted infrared radiation which otherwise will produce excessive heating in the light valves. The light beam then enters a non-cubic, in the embodiment, trapezoidal shaped, PBS 17. The coating on the inside surface 17b of this PBS is such that p-polarized light is transmitted and s-polarized Light is reflected. The p-polarized reflected fight then enters the trichroic prism assembly 10, 1 1 , 1 2.
Figure 3 shows the details of the trichroic prism assembly which contains three prisms. Prism 7 0, instead of having an entrance surface 10a perpendicular to the optical axis, which generally the case previously is at an angle of 90°-~,o to the optical axis. This allows the angle of incidence onto surface 10b to be small.
The first dichroic coating is coated on surface 1 Ob of prism 10. This coating is designed to reflect one primary colour. In one embodiment, blue colour is reflected. In another embodiment, red colour can be reflected. !t is important that the reflected colour be impinging on surface 1 Oa at an angle which is larger than the critical angle for total internal reflection of fight inside the prism. The totally internally reflected light will then exit surface 10c more or less perpendicularly to be incident on the reflective light valve 13. The reflected light from the light valve 13 is modulated in polarization. This reflected light goes through the same path and impinges on surface coating 17b of SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) the PBS. It will either be reflected back to the light source or transmitted and be projected onto the screen depending on the action of light valve 1 3. Thus the light valve wilt induce an image on the screen through polarization modulation.
At surface 10b, the transmitted light enters prism 1 1 and impinges upon surface 1 1 b. This surface is coated with a dichroic filter such that one colour component, usually the red colour, is reflected and directed towards the air gap 1 1 a. The angle of incidence of the light on the air gap is such that total internal reflection occurs. The totally internally reflected light is sent to light valve 1 5. The outlet surface 1 1 c is nearly perpendicular to the light beam. The reflective light valve will modulate the polarization of the light beam. Upon reflection and retracing the original beam path, this modulated light will impinge on surface 17b of the PSS. Again, this light beam will either be reflected or transmitted for projection depending on the action of the light valve.
The last colour component of the light, usually the green colour, will be transmitted through prism 12, and directed towards light valve 14. The reflective fight from the light valve 14 will trace back the main optical axis. Similar to the other components, this reflected light will form an image on the screen depending on the polarization modulation by light valve 14.
All the air/glass 1 Oa, 1 Oc, 1 1 a, 1 1 c and the outlet surTaces of prism 12 are coated with AR coatings. The AR coatings on surfaces 1 1 a and 10a are special broadband AR coatings. It must take into SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE '?() WO (10/3843'_' account the phase change induced by the dichroic coatings and total internal reflection. There are aiso air gaps between prism 10 and prism 1 1 , and between prism 10 and the PBS 17. T hese air gaps are needed for total internal reflection. Alternatively, in another embodiment, special coatings may be used for reflection of the various colour components without the air gap.
The angles of the three prisms are important. They are such tha t the angles of incidence are minimized, and total internal reflection can be achieved. Thus let the incident angles of the two dichroic coatings (in 1 Ob and 1 1 b) be the same and noted as 8. It can be shown easily that:
8 > sin -1 j n J + NA (2) where n is the refractive index of the prism and NA is the numerical aperture of the projection system. Therefore, if the refractive index of the prism is 1.52, and the F number of the system is 3.5, then from equation (2), one can have a 0 of 16 ° . This is the smallest angle possible. If one allows the dichroic filters to have different angles of incidence, then other values can be obtained.
The other angles of the prism assembly from these equations are:
~~ = 32 ° , ~3 = 74 ° , Also ~~ should satisfy v +B>sinW(I
NA
'n J (3) SUBSTITITTE SHEET (RULE ?6) for total internal reflection in prism 10. If one takes ~, to be 32 °, then prism 10 and prism 1 1 vviil be identical in angles. This should make manufacturing cf such prism assemblies easier.
The size of the prisms will be determined by the size of the reflective light valves and the path lengths of three colour light beams inside the prism assembly. It must be mentioned that the angle of incidence also depends on the refractive index of the prism. If a higher refractive index prism is used, the angle of incidence of the dichroic coatings can be decreased even more.
In this embodiment, the two dichroic coatings have the same angle of incidence. This is useful for mass production purposes. However, it is not a necessary condition. !t is clear that, from Figure 2, the polarization effects on the reflectance spectrum is quite small.
Moreover, the small angle of incidence will also decrease the dependence of the reflectance on variations in incidence angle (the acceptance angle). A larger acceptance angle of the dichroic coating implies that this prism structure can also improve the numerical aperture of the entire optical system.
Figure 4 shows a non-cubic shaped polarizing beam splitter. This PBS
17 consists of a right angle prism which is the same as other conventional PBS, and another part with a special angle of ~ = 73 ° .
This is needed to match the surface 10a of prism 10. Both surfaces 10a and 17a are coated with AR coatings. Surface 17b is coated with broadband AR coating, fn the preferred embodiment, the material of PBS 17 should be 8K7 glass, so that this PBS wilt have SUBSTITUTE 5HEET (RULE ~G) low tension, high tr ansparency at short wavelengths, and high polarization efficiency.
Thus using the invention described herein, with reference to the accompanying drawings, there is provided an optical sub-system for full colour projection displays which employs reflective light valves.
This sub-system consists of a non-cubic polarizing beam splitter, and a trichroic prism assembly, which can act as both a colour separator and a colour recombines for the 3 primary colours. The trichroic prism assembly contains two dichroic edge filter coatings that separate three primary colours, said red, green and blue colours, of the incident light into three correspondent channels, respectively. These two dichroic coatings are kept inside the prism assembly and are optimized for small incident angles and low polarization dependence.
The same trichroic prism assernbiy is used for colour recombining.
The 3 colour channels are modulated in polarizations by the reflective fight valves. The light beams essentially retrace the original fight path and go through the same dichroic filters, albeit with different poiarizations. The dichroic filters are polarization insensitive.
In order to keep the incident angles on the dichroic filters of the trichroic prism assembly to be small, a non-cubic polarizing beam sputter (PBS) is provided. By allowing the PBS to have a trapezoidal shape, the angles of incidence on the dichroic filters can be maintained to be small.
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) WU 00/38432 PCT/GI~99/04369 Alternatively, fcr compact coio- projectors employing re~lective iicht valves, the color sepa ration and the color recombir~atior. should be performed with the same set of optical coatings. A common optical assembly to accomplish this tasi~ is the so-called Philips prism. This trichroic prism assembly (TPA) works in conjunction with only one PBS to form the core of a COmpaCt color reflective projector.
This system is shown in Fig.
The PBS first sent either the p or s polarized Ii~ht into the TPA. The choice of s or p polarization, depends on the position of the arc lamp and the projector lens.
The first two prisms in the TPA are 30° prisms. The coatings on their exit surfaces are used to separate out the blue and red colors. Air daps are provided as shown so that total internal reflection can occur to reflect the red and blue beams out of the wav.
The three color channels leave the TPA and impinge on the reflective LCD
SUBSTITUTE SFIEET (RULE 2C) 1 ~.
li~_ht valves. Tne action of the nematic liquid 'rysta: is to :ontrol the polariz2tion state of the reflected ii~ahc. u!znv or,tical modes hav:~e beer, pr oposed for the LCD
panels.' In all oases. the re:~ected Ii~>mt is rotate:.a in pol rization by 90°. if the y:~c, ;S SLIC:Cted. This ii~ht b~;tm r~trzces the same li~_ht path as the incident beam and !~oes through the PBS.
~T-fence the hiz:: reflectance coating for both the blue and red li~hts have to function for both s and p polarized light. This is a ditticult requirement for coating design., It is well-known that it is impossible for a dichroic coating to have n' U
polarization dependence unless the ankle of incidence is zero. Because of the requirement of total internal reflection for the red and blue beams, the angle of mciaence on the blue and red color filter surfaces is limited to at least 30°. Thus the conventional TPA has severe polarization dependence in ics reflectance spectrum.
This so-called s-p polarization split causes severe lUSS Of Ii_oht efficiency and loss of color fidelity in the disolav.
Figure '7 shows the calculated reflectance spectra for the red a nd blu,.
coatings for three different incidence angles of 16°, 30° and 4~°. The red and blue edge filter spectra are plotted in the same figures, representing 3-color-se arati p on.
The solid curves are for the p-polarized while the dashed curves are for s-polarized light. The coatings are assumed to be wedeed between dIass with an index n of s 1.5163. It can be seen clearly that, as the angle of incidence increases. the separation of the spectra between s- and p- polarizations increases greatly.
This so-called s-p pol<lrization split will cause a loss in reflected light intensity. There will also be a shift in t:- a color co-ordinate of the separated and re;:ombined light.
It is an object of the invention to seek to mitigate this disadvantage.
The s-p polarization split for optical coatings comes from the fact that the specific admittance of light is different for s- and p-polarized light. The admittances SLJBSTITI1TE SFIEET (RULE 26) WO 00/3843' PCT/GB99/04369 l~
are functions of the incident anble and the poiaria~:o;~ state or the light°. They are =ven by %Jl~ = l7i Cos ~ rOr S-pG~ar i".'IiCn ~ ~ ) anC
_ _ n;
cos 0 t°' p-p°larization (=) In eqs. (1) and (?), the subscript i stands for the ith layer in the coatin~
stack.
The effective admittance r~ of the chin film changes as the incident an~ie of light is changed. And the difference bet~,veen the s and p polarization sDectrutn becomes much la: her as the incident ankle increases. Therefore large incident a:~ale will induce a large separation between the reflectance spectra of s-polari~ ed and'p-polarized light. This is evidenced in the calculated spectra in Fia. 7, The crux to the problem of optimiano the trichroic color separation/recombinaticn prism is in reducing the an~Ie of incidence of the ii~ht on the dichroic coatintrs. This incidence angle is limited by the requirement of total internal reflection for the blue and red channels. Thus there is provided a t:ichroic color separation/recombination prism assembly where the angle of incidence on the dichroic coatings has been reduced to I6°.
The design of this prism is shown in Fib. $.~The main idea is that we can allow the PBS to have a non-orthogonal, rather then the conventional cubic shap_ e.
This will relax the design conditions and allow a smaller ankle of incidence.
A blue high reflectance coating is applied on surface BC, and a red bleb reflectance coating is applied on surface CD. The incident angles of the two dichroic coatings are the same and denoted as B. Now the condition of total internal retiection on the cvo inside surfaces (AB and BC) must be maintained.
Moreover.
SUBSTITUTE SHI.ET (RULE 26) :t is assumed !hat su;~aces .~.8 and CD are parallel. Tme rein tior: bet~mee;;
the va:ous angles of the Tp~. must satisfies folicwin~ conditions:
6'=
f~ ) ~1= _ sir. -1 ~-' ~ .:. sin -1 u;4 v rt ~~~ % sin -1.~ 1 ~ _ sin 1 N~
a ane ~3 = 9G" - g (6) Therefore B ~ 1 sin ~ 1 \~ =- sin -~ ~,ra - ~j~~ ~;
In these equations, n is the refractive index of the prism material and NA is the numerical aperture of the projection system. ?herefore, if the refractive index of the prism is I.5?, and the F-number of the optics is 4, then from eq. (7), the smallest angle of incidence B allowed is Ib°. Additionally, it can be seen that ~=Io° and ~;=74°. The size of the prisms of course depends on the size of the LCD
li~ht valves.
Thus there is provided a very simple prism assembly where the nvo dichroic coatin_s have the same angles of incidence. F-ams ,a RC and BCD are similar, thus mai:in; mass production easier. It is clear from Fi'. ~ fhat this TPA has a sn~.alI and SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 2G) a Ii acceptable polarization e'tiect. Vlor°over, the small an~Ic: of incidence implies a small dispersion effect on the: incidence anzlN. ThereL~ore the dichroic coatings can have lar'e acceptance an'>les or a lame ~tnnciue. :;1I in all, this new pris;n structure can improve the numeric,il aperture ot~ the emir a optical system ~reatlv, while maintaining e;ccellent coi~r separation properties.
Both a conventional TPA and a new TpA were constructed t~or comparison.
The dichroic coatings applied have been optimized for red and blue light separation.
The data was taken usin2 a PR6~0 spectrometer. The- reflectance for the various polarizations and color coatings has been nor~naIized for comparison. Three peaks for the conventional TPA correspond to the output form the red, Green and blue channels of the TPA.
There was a shift in the spectra for s and p-polarizatians. The p-polarized reflectance is shifted to the blue by as much as 10 nm.
In the case pf the measured reflectance spectra for the new TP A, with an angle of incidence of 16°, it was found that there is ne~li~ible s-p polarization split.
This result is in good agreement with the numerical results in Fig..7.'The spectra for both the s-polarized and p-polarized IiQht are very sharp and identical.
This TPA
should be useful.for a compact color projector as shown in Fig. 6'.
In summary, we have shown that the major limitation for the design of a compact color projector using reflective LCD light valves is in the desijn of the color separator and recombines. By modifying the design of the conventional TPA, we were able to achieve a marked improvement in the s-p polarization split problem.
Thus using the invention, color separation and recombination can be achieved in a single set of optical elements with high fidelity. The angle of incidence on the dichroic coatings is preferably about lei°.
The prism hereinbefore described has the advantages of low s and p SUI3S'TITL1TE SHEET (RULE 2G) polarization dependence or: the reflectanc° spectrum. 1-ience it car.
be used for both color separation anti color recombining with poitlri~ation cha nee. ?he trichroic:
prism asse:mbiy can be used in z compa et color projector employing ret~ective iiquici crystal light valves.
The optical etandue and spectral!polarization effects are the ww major propertlca Uf the optical prU~ection SVSIem that need to be optlmlzed. Ti115 1S true fUr both reflective mode or transmittive mode projectors. For reflective projectors. the optical coatings are the major limits to the system etandue. The polarization splitting effect on the trichroic prism assembly is a significant cause of degradation of the optical system performance. The optical system proposed here provides a significant improvement over existing designs. The new TPA should find major applications in compact projectors such as desl~top monitors and flat panel televisions.
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RI1LE 26)
Claims
CLAIMS:
1. A polarizing beam splitter having a non-cubic configuration, the arrangement being such that angles of incidence on dichroic coatings or filters are maintained of small value.
2. A splitter according to claim 1, of trapezoidal configuration.
3. Apparatus for full colour projection display, including a prism assembly adapted to function as a colour separator and colour recombiner, and a plurality of reflective light values.
4. Apparatus according to claim 1, the prism assembly being trichoic.
5. A projection system for full colour image display, comprising:
a) one light source and an illumination optical system to direct and collimate the white light beam b) a polarizing beam splitter having a non-cubic shape to reflect a particular polarization of the input light as described in 1a c) a trichroic prism assembly used to separate the three primary colours from the white light beam and directs them to the three reflective light valves respectively d) a plurality of reflective polarization modulating light valves, each producing the corresponding colour image signal e) the same trichroio prism assembly as described in 1c which will be used to recombine the reflected light beams f) the same polarizing beam splatter in 1b which will be used to direct the light beam either back to the light source or to the screen depending on the polarization change imparted by the reflective light valves g) a projective lens system to image the light onto a screen and to form a full colour image.
6. A system according to claim 5, comprising a right angle prism and a trapezoidal shape prism having a polarizing coating between them.
7. A system according to claim 6, wherein the acute angle of the trapezoidal prism is 74~5°.
8. A system according to any of claims 5 to 7, the trichroic prism assembly comprising three prisms, two of them triangle prisms, and the third one being a trapezoidal prism.
9. A system according to claim 8, comprising dichroic coatings coated on the surface between the prisms.
10. A system according to any of claims 5 to 9, the angles of the triangular prisms being 32~5°, 48~5° and 100~5°
respectively.
11. A system according to claim 9 or claim 10, the two dichroic coatings comprising the same angle of incidence.
12. A system according to claim 11, the angle of incidence being 16~5°.
13. A system according to claim 11 or claim 12, the dichroic coating on one surface of the trichroic prism assembly being an edge filter having high reflectance for blue colour and a transmitter for the rest.
14. A system according to claim 11 or claim 12, the dichroic coating on one surface of the trichroic prims assembly being an edge filter having a high reflectance for red colour and transmitter for the rest.
15. A system according to claim 13 or claim 14, the reflectance spectra of the dichroic coatings having a spectral shift between the s- and p-polarizations of less than 5nm.
15. A system according to any of claims 5 to 15, the reflective light valves comprising liquid crystal light valves.
17. A system according to claim 16, the liquid crystal light valves being silicon backplane active matrix driven liquid crystal cells.
18. A system according to any of claims 5 to 17, the transmitted light of the polarizing beam splitter reflecting s-polarized light.
19. A system according to any of claims 5 to 17, the transmitted light of the polarizing beam reflecting p-polarized light.
20. A system according to any of claims 5 to 19, the light source entering the polarizing beam splitter substantially along the principle axis of the trichroic prism assembly.
21. A system according to any of claims 5 to 19, the light source entering the polarizing beam splitter substantially perpendicularly to the principle axis of the trichroic prism assembly.
22. A system according to any of claims 5 to 21, the trichroic prims assembly having an air gap between the triangular prisms.
23. A system according to any of claims 5 to 21, the polarizing beam splitter and trichroic prism having an air gap between the said polarizing beam sputter and the trichroic prism assembly.
1. A polarizing beam splitter having a non-cubic configuration, the arrangement being such that angles of incidence on dichroic coatings or filters are maintained of small value.
2. A splitter according to claim 1, of trapezoidal configuration.
3. Apparatus for full colour projection display, including a prism assembly adapted to function as a colour separator and colour recombiner, and a plurality of reflective light values.
4. Apparatus according to claim 1, the prism assembly being trichoic.
5. A projection system for full colour image display, comprising:
a) one light source and an illumination optical system to direct and collimate the white light beam b) a polarizing beam splitter having a non-cubic shape to reflect a particular polarization of the input light as described in 1a c) a trichroic prism assembly used to separate the three primary colours from the white light beam and directs them to the three reflective light valves respectively d) a plurality of reflective polarization modulating light valves, each producing the corresponding colour image signal e) the same trichroio prism assembly as described in 1c which will be used to recombine the reflected light beams f) the same polarizing beam splatter in 1b which will be used to direct the light beam either back to the light source or to the screen depending on the polarization change imparted by the reflective light valves g) a projective lens system to image the light onto a screen and to form a full colour image.
6. A system according to claim 5, comprising a right angle prism and a trapezoidal shape prism having a polarizing coating between them.
7. A system according to claim 6, wherein the acute angle of the trapezoidal prism is 74~5°.
8. A system according to any of claims 5 to 7, the trichroic prism assembly comprising three prisms, two of them triangle prisms, and the third one being a trapezoidal prism.
9. A system according to claim 8, comprising dichroic coatings coated on the surface between the prisms.
10. A system according to any of claims 5 to 9, the angles of the triangular prisms being 32~5°, 48~5° and 100~5°
respectively.
11. A system according to claim 9 or claim 10, the two dichroic coatings comprising the same angle of incidence.
12. A system according to claim 11, the angle of incidence being 16~5°.
13. A system according to claim 11 or claim 12, the dichroic coating on one surface of the trichroic prism assembly being an edge filter having high reflectance for blue colour and a transmitter for the rest.
14. A system according to claim 11 or claim 12, the dichroic coating on one surface of the trichroic prims assembly being an edge filter having a high reflectance for red colour and transmitter for the rest.
15. A system according to claim 13 or claim 14, the reflectance spectra of the dichroic coatings having a spectral shift between the s- and p-polarizations of less than 5nm.
15. A system according to any of claims 5 to 15, the reflective light valves comprising liquid crystal light valves.
17. A system according to claim 16, the liquid crystal light valves being silicon backplane active matrix driven liquid crystal cells.
18. A system according to any of claims 5 to 17, the transmitted light of the polarizing beam splitter reflecting s-polarized light.
19. A system according to any of claims 5 to 17, the transmitted light of the polarizing beam reflecting p-polarized light.
20. A system according to any of claims 5 to 19, the light source entering the polarizing beam splitter substantially along the principle axis of the trichroic prism assembly.
21. A system according to any of claims 5 to 19, the light source entering the polarizing beam splitter substantially perpendicularly to the principle axis of the trichroic prism assembly.
22. A system according to any of claims 5 to 21, the trichroic prims assembly having an air gap between the triangular prisms.
23. A system according to any of claims 5 to 21, the polarizing beam splitter and trichroic prism having an air gap between the said polarizing beam sputter and the trichroic prism assembly.
Applications Claiming Priority (5)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| GBGB9828328.6A GB9828328D0 (en) | 1998-12-22 | 1998-12-22 | Optical assembly for reflective light valves |
| GB9828328.6 | 1998-12-22 | ||
| GBGB9908777.7A GB9908777D0 (en) | 1998-12-22 | 1999-04-16 | Optical assembly for reflective light valves |
| GB9908777.7 | 1999-04-16 | ||
| PCT/GB1999/004369 WO2000038432A2 (en) | 1998-12-22 | 1999-12-22 | Optical assembly for reflective light valves |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2356555A1 true CA2356555A1 (en) | 2000-06-29 |
Family
ID=26314890
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002356555A Abandoned CA2356555A1 (en) | 1998-12-22 | 1999-12-22 | Optical assembly for reflective light valves |
Country Status (13)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| US (1) | US6561652B1 (en) |
| EP (1) | EP1145565B1 (en) |
| JP (1) | JP2003522966A (en) |
| CN (1) | CN1218585C (en) |
| AT (1) | ATE280472T1 (en) |
| AU (1) | AU1877200A (en) |
| BR (1) | BR9916420A (en) |
| CA (1) | CA2356555A1 (en) |
| DE (1) | DE69921361T2 (en) |
| HK (1) | HK1038857A1 (en) |
| IL (1) | IL143837A0 (en) |
| MX (1) | MXPA01006421A (en) |
| WO (1) | WO2000038432A2 (en) |
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| US6672721B2 (en) * | 2001-06-11 | 2004-01-06 | 3M Innovative Properties Company | Projection system having low astigmatism |
| DE10136474A1 (en) * | 2001-07-27 | 2003-02-13 | Philips Corp Intellectual Pty | Electronic circuit for operating an HID lamp and image projector |
| US7222967B2 (en) * | 2001-08-10 | 2007-05-29 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Image display optical system and projection type image display apparatus |
| CN1227555C (en) * | 2001-11-27 | 2005-11-16 | 佳能株式会社 | Projection image display and image display system |
| US6624949B2 (en) * | 2002-02-06 | 2003-09-23 | Eastman Kodak Company | Printing apparatus for photosensitive media using dichroic prism in illumination path |
| BR0316729A (en) * | 2002-12-04 | 2005-10-11 | Thomson Licensing Sa | Two-stage projection architecture |
| KR101031988B1 (en) * | 2002-12-04 | 2011-05-02 | 톰슨 라이센싱 | Two-stage projector architecture |
| WO2004052025A1 (en) * | 2002-12-04 | 2004-06-17 | Thomson Licensing S. A. | Dynamic range and contrast enhancement for microdisplay |
| MXPA05005801A (en) * | 2002-12-04 | 2005-08-16 | Thomson Licensing Sa | High contrast stereoscopic projection system. |
| WO2005104565A1 (en) * | 2004-03-26 | 2005-11-03 | Thomson Licensing | Two-stage projector architecture |
| US7055969B2 (en) * | 2004-04-29 | 2006-06-06 | Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. | Reflective optical assembly |
| CN100434972C (en) * | 2004-07-16 | 2008-11-19 | 台达电子工业股份有限公司 | Color splitting prism combination |
| ATE397759T1 (en) * | 2004-09-01 | 2008-06-15 | Barco Nv | PRISM ARRANGEMENT |
| US7359122B2 (en) * | 2005-06-09 | 2008-04-15 | Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. | Prism assembly |
| EP2467748A2 (en) * | 2009-08-17 | 2012-06-27 | 3M Innovative Properties Company | Dual total internal reflection polarizing beamsplitter |
| JP2011227404A (en) * | 2010-04-22 | 2011-11-10 | Sony Corp | Optical device and projector |
| DE102011117565A1 (en) | 2011-06-28 | 2013-01-03 | blnsight3D GmbH | Wavelength-sorted multi-stage color adding unit for six-colored stereo image display, has color adders coupled such that spectral bands are guided in common optical axis, where spectral bands represented in common optical axis are increased |
| DE102011117568A1 (en) | 2011-07-08 | 2013-01-10 | blnsight3D GmbH | Three-pair addition method for polarization-encoded three-color six-channel stereo image display system, involves using color-addition system for combining three image beam pairs into combined image beam pair along common optical axis |
| CN104267567B (en) * | 2012-09-28 | 2017-02-01 | 深圳市绎立锐光科技开发有限公司 | Light source system and related projection system |
| CN104267568B (en) * | 2012-09-28 | 2017-11-07 | 深圳市绎立锐光科技开发有限公司 | Light-source system and relevant projecting system |
| CN104216210B (en) * | 2012-09-28 | 2017-01-25 | 深圳市绎立锐光科技开发有限公司 | Light source system and related projection system |
| CN103713454B (en) | 2012-09-28 | 2016-12-07 | 深圳市绎立锐光科技开发有限公司 | Light-emitting device and relevant projecting system |
| CN103713455B (en) * | 2012-09-28 | 2016-12-21 | 深圳市绎立锐光科技开发有限公司 | Light-source system and relevant projecting system |
| CN106154713B (en) * | 2015-04-09 | 2018-05-15 | 深圳市光峰光电技术有限公司 | Light-source system and optical projection system |
| CN107861242B (en) * | 2017-12-20 | 2019-07-05 | 嘉兴中润光学科技有限公司 | Imaging system with multisensor |
| CN110161787B (en) * | 2018-02-14 | 2021-08-27 | 中强光电股份有限公司 | Projection device |
| CN112839150B (en) * | 2021-01-04 | 2022-08-23 | 杭州科汀光学技术有限公司 | Day and night camera system and camera based on Philips prism structure |
| CN114397255B (en) * | 2021-11-12 | 2023-09-01 | 中国科学院西安光学精密机械研究所 | Wide-spectrum high-resolution video spectrum imaging system and method |
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| US4687301A (en) | 1985-07-12 | 1987-08-18 | Hughes Aircraft Company | Full-color projector system with a tricolor-separating prism |
| NL8802517A (en) * | 1988-10-13 | 1990-05-01 | Philips Nv | IMAGE PROJECTION DEVICE. |
| US5644432A (en) * | 1995-01-17 | 1997-07-01 | Ibm Corporation | Three prism color separator |
| US5829854A (en) | 1996-09-26 | 1998-11-03 | Raychem Corporation | Angled color dispersement and recombination prism |
| US6052231A (en) * | 1998-01-21 | 2000-04-18 | International Business Machines Corporation | Beam dividing elements permitting projection of an image with high contrast |
| JP2000227635A (en) * | 1998-11-30 | 2000-08-15 | Nikon Corp | Projection type display device |
| CH695171A5 (en) * | 1999-02-04 | 2005-12-30 | Balzers Hochvakuum | Light splitter and optical transmitter arrangement with a light splitter. |
| US6398364B1 (en) * | 1999-10-06 | 2002-06-04 | Optical Coating Laboratory, Inc. | Off-axis image projection display system |
-
1999
- 1999-12-22 WO PCT/GB1999/004369 patent/WO2000038432A2/en active IP Right Grant
- 1999-12-22 CN CN998149454A patent/CN1218585C/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 1999-12-22 CA CA002356555A patent/CA2356555A1/en not_active Abandoned
- 1999-12-22 DE DE69921361T patent/DE69921361T2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 1999-12-22 EP EP99962414A patent/EP1145565B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1999-12-22 US US09/868,473 patent/US6561652B1/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 1999-12-22 AT AT99962414T patent/ATE280472T1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1999-12-22 BR BR9916420-5A patent/BR9916420A/en not_active Application Discontinuation
- 1999-12-22 JP JP2000590393A patent/JP2003522966A/en active Pending
- 1999-12-22 MX MXPA01006421A patent/MXPA01006421A/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1999-12-22 AU AU18772/00A patent/AU1877200A/en not_active Abandoned
- 1999-12-22 IL IL14383799A patent/IL143837A0/en unknown
-
2001
- 2001-12-18 HK HK01108859A patent/HK1038857A1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| WO2000038432A3 (en) | 2002-10-24 |
| CN1218585C (en) | 2005-09-07 |
| EP1145565A2 (en) | 2001-10-17 |
| BR9916420A (en) | 2001-10-02 |
| CN1439228A (en) | 2003-08-27 |
| ATE280472T1 (en) | 2004-11-15 |
| US6561652B1 (en) | 2003-05-13 |
| IL143837A0 (en) | 2002-04-21 |
| EP1145565B1 (en) | 2004-10-20 |
| JP2003522966A (en) | 2003-07-29 |
| DE69921361T2 (en) | 2006-03-09 |
| HK1038857A1 (en) | 2002-03-28 |
| MXPA01006421A (en) | 2005-10-19 |
| WO2000038432A2 (en) | 2000-06-29 |
| AU1877200A (en) | 2000-07-12 |
| DE69921361D1 (en) | 2004-11-25 |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| FZDE | Discontinued | ||
| FZDE | Discontinued |
Effective date: 20051222 |