Light Beam Combining Device for Holographic Displays
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing devices for combining light beams interacting with adjacently arranged pixels of a light modulator are inefficient due to unwanted diffraction effects and sensitivity to changes in the incidence direction, leading to suboptimal performance in holographic displays.
Innovation Solution
A device that splits incident light into subbeams and uses structured beam influencing components to differentiate their paths, with a beam selector blocking non-macropixel subbeams, allowing for point-symmetric beam paths and reduced sensitivity to incidence direction changes, achieved through the use of birefringent components and polarizers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a beam combiner is used to combine light beams from adjacently arranged pixels, then complex-valued modulation is achieved, but unwanted diffraction effects occur and the system becomes sensitive to changes in incidence direction
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides each pixel into two subpixels that are spatially separated and assigned different polarization states. This segmentation allows independent control of amplitude and phase through interference of the two subpixel beams, achieving complex-valued modulation while avoiding the diffraction problems of traditional beam combiners.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from combining beams in the spatial domain (traditional beam combiner) to combining beams through polarization states. By using polarization as an additional dimension for beam combination, the system achieves the desired modulation capability without the harmful diffraction effects associated with spatial beam combining.
2Reliability
If adjacently arranged pixels are combined to form macropixels, then holographic display performance is improved, but the system becomes sensitive to incidence direction changes
Solution Approach 1:
Each macropixel is segmented into two subpixels with distinct polarization orientations. This segmentation enables the system to maintain stable interference patterns for holographic reconstruction while being less sensitive to variations in incidence direction, as the polarization-based combination is more robust to angular changes than spatial beam combining.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the combination parameter from spatial overlap to polarization state. By using polarization as the combining parameter instead of spatial position, the system achieves improved reliability in holographic display while reducing sensitivity to incidence direction changes.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively avoids diffraction effects and maintains intended beam combination, ensuring robustness against changes in incidence direction, thereby enhancing the performance of holographic displays by ensuring accurate light modulation and combination.
Implementation Method 1
A beam splitting component, which is preferably configured uniaxially birefringently... incident light beams are thereby split into a first subbeam and a second subbeam
Implementation Method 2
The beam splitting component and the beam combining component are preferably configured uniaxially birefringently
Implementation Method 3
A beam combining component... configured and arranged in such a way that the first subbeam and the second subbeam can thereby be combined
Implementation Method 4
The beam splitting component and the beam combining component are preferably configured uniaxially birefringently
Implementation Method 5
A beam superposition component... configured and arranged in such a way that the first and second subbeams can thereby be made to interfere
Data Source
AI summary
A device for combining light beams which interact with adjacently arranged pixels of a light modulator, having a beam splitting component, a beam combining component, and a beam superposition component. The beam splitting component is configured such that incident light beams are split into a first subbeam and a second subbeam so that the first subbeam propagates toward a first pixel of the light modulator and the second subbeam propagates toward a second pixel of the light modulator. The beam combining component is configured and arranged so that the first subbeam and the second subbeam are combined after interaction with pixels of the light modulator. The beam splitting component and the beam combining component are configured and arranged in such a way that a sum of optical path lengths of the first subbeam and the second subbeam is respectively constant for different angles of incidence.