Patent · US Expired

High efficiency projection displays having thin film polarizing beam-splitters

US5982541A · kind A · utility

83Cited by
3References
27Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 27, 1998
Grant dateNov 9, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 27, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG02B27/283
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A projection display system includes a thin film polarizing beam splitter/combiner has first and second light transmissive substrates in the form of prisms and a plurality of thin film layers disposed between the prisms. The thin film layers and have predetermined thicknesses and refractive indices which allow unpolarized incident light to be separated into s-polarized and p-polarized light beams. Both frustrated total internal reflection and thin film interference are simultaneously employed to allow s-polarized light to be transmitted and p-polarized light to be reflected over a wide range of wavelengths and angles of incidence. The device further includes two spatial light modulators for encoding an image to be projected. By providing a different signal to each spatial light modulator, a three-dimensional display results.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.