LIGHT FIELD PROJECTORS AND METHODS

摘要

Undesirably high energy-consumption in illuminating devices can be caused at least in part by wasted (attenuated) light. Optically efficient illumination systems that may be used to project light, including images, use light redirection. Phase modulating devices may be applied to create desired light fields. Some embodiments provide dual or multiple modulation display or projection systems in which some or all of the modulators not only attenuate amplitude, but also amplify amplitude, or change the phase, frequency and polarization of the light provided by the light source.

主权项

1. A method for displaying images specified by image data, the image data specifying luminance that varies from place to place on the images such that the images have darker areas and lighter areas, the method comprising:
controlling a phase modulator to provide a two-dimensional freeform lens having a configuration based on the image data; illuminating the phase modulator with incident light and allowing the incident light to interact with the phase modulator to yield a modified light field; and projecting the modified light field onto a surface to yield a depiction of the image; wherein: the interaction of the light with the phase modulator causes redirection of light that would otherwise illuminate darker areas of the images to lighter areas of the images.