Invited Paper: Blazed GxLP™ light modulators for laser projectors

Abstract

Abstract— A GxL device is a one‐dimensional light modulator suitable for laser projectors. A blazed GxL, which diffracts the incident laser beam in only one direction was developed, and a contrast ratio of 10,000:1 and a diffraction efficiency of 70% was achieved by nanometer‐order control of ribbons based on the MEMS structural simulation and using common 0.25‐μm CMOS‐compatible fabrication processes. The 1.09‐in.‐long 1080‐pixel blazed GxL was implemented in the 2005‐in. Laser Dream Theater at the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi, Japan, and performed perfectly during that period. Recently, by optimizing the posts supporting the ribbon and flattening of the sacrificial layer using chemical mechanical polishing, an ultra high contrast ratio of 34,700:1 with a 0.72‐in.‐long GxL has been realized, and a smaller ceramic module with high reliability has also been realized. The blazed GxL will be a promising technology to further advance laser‐projector performance.

High‐pixel‐rate grating‐light‐valve laser projector

“…Our grating light valve module (G × L module) has a blazed ribbon structure, which concentrates the major diffracted light into -1 st -order diffraction, while minimizing +1st-order diffraction. 5,9 An aperture slit is placed at the 1D intermediate image plane to reject the unwanted stray light and to improve the contrast ratio.…”

56.4: Invited Paper: New‐Technology Light Sources for Projection Displays

“…Figure 9 shows a portion of the linear array from a E&S device. Sony also has a license on the GLV and has developed a blazed device based on the technology [23]. Figure 9: GLV Linear Array from E&S The output of lasers is polarized typically with a polarization ratio of 100:1 or more.…”

56.1: High‐Frame‐Rate, High‐Contrast Grating Light Valve Laser Projection Display

“…This structure maximize the +1 st order diffraction intensity and minimize the -1 st order diffraction intensity. It allows us to minimize the aperture (Schlieren filter) size so that only +1 st order diffraction light is collected 3) . It will improve the contrast ratio.…”