Report on

Laser Projection Displays

Md. Abul Hasnat

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Abstract

After the invention of lasers, in the past 50 years progress made in laser-based display technology has
been very promising. This technology has long been proposed as a superior alternative to existing
image-display devices like CRTs (cathode-ray tubes), flat panels, and projection systems based on lamps
and LEDs. Compact laser systems, such as edge-emitting diodes, vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers,
and optically pumped semiconductor lasers, are suitable candidates for laser-based displays. In addition
to this, Laser speckle is an important concern, as it degrades image quality. Typically, one or multiple
speckle reduction techniques are employed in laser displays to reduce speckle contrast. Likewise, laser
safety issues need to be carefully evaluated in designing laser displays under different usage scenarios.
Laser beam shaping using refractive and diffractive components is an integral part of laser displays, and
the requirements depend on the source specifications, modulation technique, and the scanning method
being employed in the display.

Lasers have been attractive to display manufacturers because, from a theoretical and practical
standpoint, they deliver a significantly better image than any other display type. Probably the biggest
single advantage of lasers is their ability to cover a wider color gamut. The laser’s promise has yet to
become a market reality, in part because of the size, power consumption, and cost drawbacks of
available visible laser technology.
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Table of Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 4
Optics for Laser Displays .......................................................................................................................... 5
Laser Beam Shaping of Single-Emitter Lasers ....................................................................................... 6
Laser Beam Shaping of Multiemitter Lasers ......................................................................................... 6
Laser requirements ................................................................................................................................. 8
Laser Display Systems .............................................................................................................................. 9
Displays with Single-Axis Scanning ....................................................................................................... 9
Displays with Two-Axis Scanning........................................................................................................ 10
Displays with Direct Two-Dimensional Modulation ............................................................................ 11
Example of 2D modulated laser display technology........................................................................ 12
Other Laser-Based Displays................................................................................................................ 13
Example of different Laser projection displays available in market ........................................................ 13
Laser TV............................................................................................................................................. 14
Laser projector .................................................................................................................................. 14
Advantages of Laser projection displays ................................................................................................ 15
Superior color .................................................................................................................................... 15
Brightness and contrast ..................................................................................................................... 15
Spanned lifetime ............................................................................................................................... 16
Several issues regarding laser projection displays .................................................................................. 16
Laser Safety ....................................................................................................................................... 16
Speckle in Laser Displays.................................................................................................................... 17
Conclusion............................................................................................................................................. 18
References ............................................................................................................................................ 19
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Introduction

A display is an output surface and projecting mechanism that shows text, graphic images and video
(sequence of images) to the user, using a cathode ray tube ( CRT ), liquid crystal display ( LCD ), light-
emitting diode, gas plasma, or other image projection technology. The display is usually considered to
include the screen or projection surface and the device that produces the information on the screen.
Most displays in current use employ cathode ray tube ( CRT ) technology similar to that used in most
television sets. The CRT technology requires a certain distance from the beam projection device to the
screen in order to function. Using other technologies, displays can be much thinner and are known as
flat-panel displays . Flat panel display technologies include light-emitting diode (LED), liquid crystal
display ( LCD ), and gas plasma. LED and gas plasma work by lighting up display screen positions based
on the voltages at different grid intersections. LCDs work by blocking light rather than creating it. LCDs
require far less energy than LED and gas plasma technologies and are currently the primary technology
for notebook and other mobile computers. A plasma display panel (PDP) is a type of flat panel display
common to large TV displays. A panel typically has millions of tiny cells in compartmentalized space
between two panels of glass. These compartments, or "bulbs" or "cells", hold a mixture of noble gases
and a minuscule amount of mercury. Depending on the phosphors used, different colors of visible light
can be achieved. Each pixel in a plasma display is made up of three cells comprising the primary colors of
visible light. Displays can be characterized according to: Color capability, sharpness and view ability, the
size of the screen and the projection technology.

Many of the projection display systems use arc lamps, also known as high-intensity discharge(HID) lamps.
Xenon lamps are HID lamps, where the only fill material is the noble gas xenon. Metal-halide lamps are
HID lamps in which the fill material consists primarily of mercury, with a doping of a halide salt of the
desired metal. In several displays, very low end projectors tungsten halogen lamps are used. The other
type of lamp used in projection display technology is Ultra High Performance (UHP) lamps. UHP lamps
have high luminous efficacy 50-60 lm/W. UHP lamps are claimed to have a lifetime of over 10,000 hours.
However, using these lamps current televisions are capable of displaying only 40% of the color gamut
that humans can potentially perceive. The color gamut based on these lamps is less than the gamut of
NTSC. The size of the color gamut produced by the light sources used is considered as a limitation of the
current projection display technologies. In such situation in order to increase the size of color gamut,
lasers may become an ideal replacement of the current light sources in displays. The more
monochromatic is the light source, the nearer of the border line of the color space it is situated. That is
why by using laser the color gamut achieved is as large as possible, because laser lines are situated
practically on the border line of the color space. Therefore, the color gamut of a Laser Display System
(LDS) can be easy to expand beyond NTSC (e.g., 166%). Lasers are currently in use in projection display
devices such as rear projection TV and front projectors in order to produce extended color gamut. Color
gamut comparison of CRT, LCD, LED and laser projector display in CIE color space is shown in fig. 1.
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Figure 1: Comparison between color gamut of CRT, LCD LED and laser projection display in CIE color
space

A laser projection display, is a rear-projection based display technology that replaces the conventional
high-intensity discharge lamps with three colored lasers. The image on the screen is produced like a
conventional rear projection system, by scanning the light source across the screen using
optoelectronics.

The idea of using lasers as light sources for display applications dates back to the 1960s. Such that the
laser display systems seems to be feasible, unfortunately, due to the lack of practical laser devices that
generate red, green, and blue (RGB) lights, it is only recently that diode lasers and miniature diode-
pumped-solid-state lasers (DPSSLs), which emit visible spectrum lights, have become commercially
available. Based on RGB laser lights as primaries, except for expanded color gamut, some other
advantages emerge, for example, longer lifetime, no warm-up time, less noise and power consumption,
higher contrast ratio, simplified optics are needed, and perhaps, a few years later, it will become cost
less. After examination of the development history of the display technologies and of the laser
technologies, it is safe to say, that following the monochromic-display, the full color display, and digital-
display technologies, the laser display technology is the fourth generation display technology which
opens up a new area for laser application.

Optics for Laser Displays

Laser-based displays require special optical components to shape, homogenize, combine, or separate
laser beams. The preferred optical components and the coatings on them show variety according to the
type, power, and the wavelengths of the lasers used. Although there are overlapping techniques, laser
beam shaping can be divided into two categories.
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Laser Beam Shaping of Single-Emitter Lasers

Beam shaping of single-emitter lasers can be done with reflective and diffractive elements, and the
method used mainly depends on the shape and the power of the input beam.

A simple laser beam shaping technique for single emitter lasers that uses refractive elements is shown in
Fig. 2. It consists of two plano aspheric lenses in the standard Galilean beam expander configuration.
The first lens directs the incident rays so that they are uniformly distributed on the second lens. The
second lens collimates the incident beam, the exiting beam propagates almost perfectly collimated, and
the optical path length (OPL) is preserved. This configuration allows creation of large collimated beams
but requires radially symmetric input beams and works for a certain wavelength. If the wavelengths of
the input beam changes, the setup needs adjustment by changing the distance between the two lenses.
On the other hand, it is possible to achromatize the two-lens system by using conventional spherical
components made of standard glass. Inserting doublets or triplets as external compensators at the exit
pupil of the design is a method for color correction. For high-power single-emitter lasers, lens-based
shapers may not be suitable, as their performance deteriorates over time [90]. In order to shape a high
power laser beam into a uniform rectangular profile, two external binary phase reflective DOEs can be
used.

Figure 2: Beam expander configuration with two plano-aspheric lenses.

The methods discussed above use passive optical elements to shape laser beams, which make them
sensitive to the input. Another way of shaping a laser beamis using active optical elements such as
deformable mirrors, which adjust the spatial phase of the beam before propagating to the target.

Laser Beam Shaping of Multiemitter Lasers

Laser diode arrays are effective sources because of their high power supporting capabilities and lower
speckle properties. Delivery of the beam from the array without losing brightness and beam quality is an
important task. Different methods for combining the output of laser diode arrays in the spectral and
phase domains are proposed. Most of the time, individual emitters in the array have different
divergence angles in different axes. A classical method for beam shaping is combining different emitter
outputs using a fiber bundle and focusing them into a single fiber. In order to get maximum efficiency,
bundle dimensions should be as small as possible, which places restrictions on minimum jacketing and
cladding thickness.
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Uniform intensity profiles over an area or along a line from laser diode arrays can be produced using
microlens arrays combined with field lenses. The divergence of the emitted rays can be controlled by
microlens arrays, and the output can be homogenized by combining and mixing the rays from different
emitters. The most common microlens array configuration for creating uniform illumination is known as
the fly’s eye configuration, a schematic of which is shown in Fig. 3(a). It consists of two identical
microlens arrays and a field lens. This system will have reduced interference effects if used after a
telescope configuration with a rotating random diffuser in between, as shown in Fig. 3(b). The first array
of the above configuration is called the field lens array, and the second array is called the pupil lens
array, as it forms the pupil of the system. The combination of two microlens arrays is called a
uniformizer or a tandem lens array. The second microlens array is located at the focal plane of the first
microlens array, and the level of homogenization is inversely proportional to the pitch of the arrays. A
configuration with two identical microlens arrays separated by a focal length can also be used for
exitpupil expansion in display systems and fabrication technologies.

Figure 3: (a) Fly’s eye configuration for beam homogenization. (b) Fly’s eye configuration with a diffuser.

An improved design that uses a multiemitter laser and a fly’s eye configuration to create a uniform laser
line at a plane is shown in fig. 4. Although designed for a laser printer, this method can be applied to
display systems requiring a line illumination, such as the GLV-based system. In this configuration, beams
coming from individual emitters are collimated with the first lenslet array and made to travel through
different field lenses and a tandem lens array. The system uses cylindrical microlens arrays to
homogenize the laser light only along the line axis and keeps its Gaussian profile along the other axis. As
the line is scanned, the intensity along the unhomogenized axis gets averaged. This uniformizer was
adapted for a one-dimensional (1D) scanning-based 3D display, which uses array lasers as light sources.
For full color, an X cube or dichroic mirrors can be used for combining the beams from red, green, and
blue lasers.
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Figure 4: Improved fly’s eye configuration for uniform laser line creation from an array of diode lasers.

Laser requirements

For many years the technology itself kept growth in this segment of the laser industry in check, primarily
because the lasers that generated the desired colors and images were large, expensive, and very high-
maintenance. For example, gas lasers are available with a wide range of wavelengths. However, being
bulky and less efficient makes them unsuitable for the mass production display market. Additionally,
they require external modulators, which increase the cost and complexity of the system. However, with
the advent of more-compact, affordable, and user-friendly solid-state lasers--particularly diode lasers
capable of emitting red, green, and blue (RGB) wavelengths. These lasers are inherently smaller, more
efficient and reliable, and increasingly more versatile and less expensive than ion lasers.

The primary reason lasers are now poised for implementation in displays is that several key
technological improvements have provided reduced power consumption, increased reliability, wider
wavelength selection, higher output from a given package size, and the potential for mass production.
There are several solid-state approaches to generate visible continuous-wave laser light. The principal
methods are edge-emitting diodes (and frequency-doubled diodes), diode-pumped solid-state (DPSS)
lasers, vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), and optically pumped semiconductor (OPS) lasers.
OPS lasers are the superior choice for a number of reasons. Because, this is a completely scalable
technology, in terms of both power and wavelength. Fig. 5 shows the structure of an OPSL employing
the side-pumping scheme. In comparison, DPSS lasers are more complex and costly, while the output
power of diodes and VCSELs is limited. Some manufacturers have proposed ganging diodes or VCSELs in
arrays for this application. However, the use of an extended emission area lowers source brightness,
negating one of the main advantages of lasers. It appears that semiconductor lasers are the ideal light
sources for laser projection display applications due to compact size and high electrical to optical
efficiency. Although diode lasers emitting red lights are commercially available, there is none operating
at suitable blue and green wavelengths. DPSSLs, operating at 532 and 473 nm, are the immediate
candidates for laser projection display applications in long time.
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Figure 5: Structure of an OPSL

Requirements of the laser source depend on the architecture of the display. For a flat panel backlit
display, the laser beam M2 parameter can be a few hundred times larger than that of a diffraction
limited beam. Display systems based on the flying spot approach are considered to be more suitable for
mobile devices. Such an approach requires that the laser beam be collimated while maintaining the
small beam size, which places restrictions on the selection of the source. As a TEM00 (transverse
electromagnetic with p=l=0) laser beam can be considered as a true point source, such a beam is the
ideal choice of the designer in this case.

Laser Display Systems

Successful implementations of laser-based displays in the late 1960s were inspired from the cathode ray
tube (CRT), which uses an electron beam to write the image on the screen. Today, advancements in
technology provided us with a variety of means by which a laser-based display can be realized each with
its own advantages and disadvantages. These systems can be broadly classified based on the
architecture being employed as (i) scanned linear architecture type, which uses a 1D array of pixels [GLV
and grating electromechanical system (GEMS)], (ii) scanned beamtype [modulation is internal with diode
current or external using an electro-optic or acousto-optic modulator (EOM or AOM)], and (iii) two-
dimensional (2D) flat panel type [modulation with liquid-crystal display (LCD), digital micromirror device
(DMD), or liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCoS)]. In addition to this, laser-based displays can replace many
other current technologies without adversely affecting user experience. Successfully demonstrated laser
based display systems are described below.

Displays with Single-Axis Scanning

Displays following this approach use a 1D array of modulators to form a single column of image, which is
then scanned in a direction orthogonal to the length of the line image to form the complete 2D image.
This architecture uses microelectromechanical linear array modulators called the GLV by Silicon
LightMachines, Incorporated, GEMS by Kodak or spatial opticalmodulator (SOM) by Samsung Electro-
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Mechanics. All these devices are MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems), which are fabricated on
silicon. GLV and GEMS use electrostatic force to create a grating structure by deflecting tiny reflective
ribbons, while SOM utilizes the piezoelectric effect for the same purpose. By controlling the voltage
applied to these tiny ribbons, their mechanical shift, and thereby the diffraction of light from the overall
grating structure, can be controlled. Following the success of flat diffraction grating structures, devices
with blazed diffraction grating were introduced by Sony. These devices are more efficient, owing to the
fact that the light is being directed to a single diffraction order, and it produced a contrast ratio that is
twice that of the device with a flat grating structure.

Another laser-based display with a similar scanning method is the proposed HELIUM 3D display, which
uses single-axis scanning of modulated laser light for forming 3D images by working in conjunction with
head trackers. Reflective LCoS microdisplays are used for light modulation in this direct view display. The
HELIUM 3D display is autostereoscopic, as it sends left and right images of a 3D image to the
corresponding eyes of the viewer by forming exit pupils at the location of the eyes of the viewer in a
dynamic fashion with the help of head trackers. As shown in the schematic in fig. 6, the display requires
a RGB laser light engine to produce laser line illumination at the modulator plane and a 1D scanner to
produce a 2D image. After this image forming section, there is a dynamic spatial light modulator and a
special front screen assembly to direct images to the viewing zones with the help of head trackers.

Figure 6: HELIUM 3D display schematic.

Displays with Two-Axis Scanning

These types of displays use a slowly converging laser beam, which is modulated by the video signal, to
write the images by scanning the beam on the screen using a pair of scanner mirrors. These types of
raster scanned displays have the advantage of not requiring a projection lens assembly for image
formation. Thus these systems can be very compact and less expensive, making them suitable for the
mobile market. Image formation is very similar to that of the electron gun in a CRT. Vertical and
horizontal movement of the laser beam is achieved by a two-mirror system in which a very fast polygon
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mirror scans the horizontal axis while the other mirror slowly scans the vertical axis. Developments in
MEMS technology has led to the evolution of compact and silent two-axis MEMS scanners that can
replace both mirrors mentioned earlier. The raster scanned projection scheme does not require
projection lenses, as these systems directly write the image on the screen and the image is always in
focus, regardless of the distance of the projection screen or the shape of the projection surface. The
schematic of a flying spot laser projector is shown in fig. 7.

Figure 7: Schematic of a flying spot laser projector.

Diode lasers are more suitable for this type of display, as they are directly modulatable by modulating
the diode current according to the video signal. Most compact laser projectors use this approach, but
other modulator technologies such as AOMs or EOMs can also be used. With the introduction of
miniature MEMS scanner mirrors, this type of projectors became more compact. This miniaturization of
scanner technology led to the introduction of a new class of projectors called pico projectors; these use
directly modulatable diode lasers and two-axis MEMS scanners, which allow a large reduction in size.

Displays with Direct Two-Dimensional Modulation

Direct modulation of the laser light with 2D modulators has the advantage of requiring lower beam
quality from the laser. The optical configuration of the projection system can be seen in Fig. 8.

Figure 8: Schematic of a DMD-based laser projector.

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For these types of backlit displays, the required laser beam quality (étendue) depends on the aperture
size of the modulator and its angular acceptance. As the étendue of the modulator is higher than the
laser beam in most cases, inefficiencies do not arise. There are laser projectors based on reflective and
transmissive liquid-crystal
crystal (LC) technologies. Mitsubishi introduced LaserVue, a laser
laser-based television in
2008. The projector introduced by the company Explay uses reflective LCoS microdisplays.
microdispl The
microprojector from Alcatel-Lucent
Lucent uses a single reflective LCoS unit, with color sequential illumination
by employing a modulation frequency of 180 Hz, divided among the three primaries, which results in a
60 Hz full-color
color image. This projector uses
uses 635nm, 532 nm, and 450nm lasers to produce a 10 lm output
with only 1:5W of electrical power consumption.
consumption

Example of 2D modulated laser display technology

The laser display principle is based on deflection of
of a modulated laser beam (fig. 9).
9 The video or TV
signal is first routed via an input module to a programmable image memory, which adjusts itself to any
standard (PAL, NTSC, SECAM or HDTV). Color transformation is the next step. It is required because laser
display technology has to be downwards-compatible
downwards mpatible with existing transmissions and reproduction
systems. Here, the laser light must be adapted via a matrix to the fixed, colorimetric
colo standards of
existing television technology so that color reproduction will be identical to that of conventional
phosphorus
osphorus compounds in picture tubes. The light source is a laser unit with three wavelengths for the
colorss red (630 nm), green (532 nm) and blue (450 nm), whereby the brightness of each is controlled by
an electro-optical
optical modulator in accordance with the received signal. Horizontal deflection is performed
by a polygon mirror with 32 or 25 faces, respectively, which rotates at a speed of maximum 1300
revolutions per second. A galvanometer scanner is responsible for vertical deflection. A vario lens can
produce
uce a variable image size with a fixed projection distance. Since the polygon mirror achieves only a
small deflection angle of 12 deg, the deflector is followed by an optical system to increase divergence,
significantly reducing the depth of the units.

Figure 9: Overview of LDT-components

Since the projection lamps (thermal beamers) used in projection technology today emit light throughout
the entire projection area, only a fraction of this light can be used for image projection (aperture loss).
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The fundamental
mental difference between laser sources and projection lamps lies in their spatial diffusion
light. The aperture loss is eliminated using lasers, all light is emitted in quasi-parallel
quasi parallel rays. In all classic
projection systems depth of focus is limited, and the image must be focused on the projection screen. In
laser projection, depth of focus is practically unlimited owing to the use of quasi-parallel
quasi (collinear) laser
beams. No focusing is necessary, and projection on nonnon-plane
plane surfaces is simple.

Speckle in
n the projected laser image is created by the coherence properties of the laser light. Unlike
many other laser applications, the coherence properties of laser light are not required in image
projection; there are thus various opportunities of eliminating speckle
speckle directly at the laser source.

Based Displays
Other Laser-Based
Among the other laser based displays one is holographic laser projector by the company named Light
Blue Optics (LBO), which is based on 2D diffraction from diffraction patterns displayed on a microdisplay.
However, they are not truly holographic and form only a 2D image. Holographic video displays, which
can indeed display 3D images, have also been under active development over the last two decades but
are currently limited by the capabilities of the available modulation and computation technologies.
technologies
Other display types that successfully exploited the positive aspects of laser light are head-mounted
head
displays. These systems were bulky and heavy, but with the incorporation of new technologies theythe are
finding places in medical, automotive, and military applications. These types of wearable displays can be
seen through, providing real-world
world images superimposed with information from external sources.

Example of different
ifferent Laser projection displays available
vailable in market

The major drawback of laser based projection display is high cost and maturity in comparison with the
other display systems. An analysis on available display technologies is performed in terms of market size
and cost. Fig. 10 illustrates the analysis, from which it is clear that laser based displays has the lowest
market size as well as the technology is not matured enough.

Figure 10:: Analysis on available display technologies in terms of market size and cost.
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Laser TV
A laserr TV replaces the conventional high-intensity
high intensity discharge lamps with three colored lasers. The image
on the screen is produced like a conventional rear projection system.
system One of the laser TV available on
the market is “LaserVue” (fig. 1 11) a laser rear projection television from Mitsubishi. Other companies,
such as Microvision, Alcatel-Lucent,
Lucent, Light Blue Optics (LBO), and Explay, are also developing their own
laser display architectures for the mass market.

First reports on the development of a commercia

commerciall Laser TV were published as early as February 16, 2006
with a decision on the large-scale
scale availability of laser televisions expected by early 2008. On January 7,
2008, Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, unveiled their first commercial Laser TV, a 65" 1080p model.

Figure 11: Mitsubishi LaserVue TV

Laser projector
A laser video projector modulates a laser beam in order to project a raster-based
raster based image. The systems
work either by scanning the entire picture a dot at a time and modulating the laser directly
dir at high
frequency, or by optically spreading and then modulating the laser and scanning a line at a time.
time When
well implemented, this technology produces the broadest color gamut available.

Among the manufacturer of laser projectors, the company “LDT Laser Display Technology GmbH” GmbH
produces high-end
end laser projectors with double amount of colors and high contrast of 50.000:1.
Intended applications are simulation, planetaria and virtual reality. The company ““Evans and Sutherland”
produces 2000 and 8000 Lumen
umen projectors for large screen high resolution (8K) applications
applications. Another
company “Microvision”” produces 10 Lumen Handheld mobile projector and OEM component. component The
company “Light Blue Optics(LBO)”
(LBO)” produces 35 Lumen projector and OEM component component. Another
company “JENOPTIK LDT” delivered the first 13-channel
13 channel laser projection system of the new generation 2
to the German armed forces, where it forms part of a Tornado simulator. There are many other
companies producing laser projectors commercially. Fig. 12
1 shows the laser projector from Sanyo.

Figure 12: Laser projector from Sanyo

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Advantages of Laser projection displays

Today’s compact solid-state lasers enable the image brightness, greater color gamut, and resolution that
make for great viewing, with the added bonus of longer lifetimes than lamp-based light sources.
However, these lasers cost a lot more than the ultra-high-pressure (UHP) arc lamps they are trying to
displace. The advantages of laser projection displays over other display systems are discussed more
detail in the following sections.

Superior color
The CRT display gamut is noticeably superior to liquid-crystal displays (LCDs), yet still only covers 60% to
70% of the NTSC (National Television Systems Committee) color gamut because of the limited color
saturation (spectral purity) of the phosphor emissions. Moreover, the NTSC color gamut is substantially
smaller than the eye’s total color capabilities. In contrast, the use of three lasers (at 460, 532, and 635
nm) enables coverage of 150% to 170% of the NTSC gamut. This means that laser displays deliver a
wider range of vivid colors making the image far more lifelike than any existing display type. A
comparison between color gamut of laser projection and NTSC is shown in fig. 13.

Figure 13: Comparison between color gamut of laser display and the NTSC (National Television Systems
Committee) television protocol.

Another color-related issue is source aging. With lamps and LEDs, output wavelengths shift as the
devices age, and not necessarily at a constant rate. This means the color reproduction of the projected
image deteriorates over time. With lasers, however, output wavelength does not shift with age, and
color characteristics are maintained simply by holding the laser power constant.

Brightness and contrast

Brightness is another key image parameter and is defined as the total power emitted by a source per
unit solid angle per unit area. A TEM00 (transverse electromagnetic with p=l=0) laser is a true point
source; all the light appears to emanate from the same point in space. This means it can be perfectly
collimated and focused back to a point, limited only by diffraction. In contrast, a lamp or LED emits from
an extended area or volume over a large solid angle. Furthermore, obtaining increased brightness from
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lamps or LEDs virtually always involves increasing the apparent source size. As a result, a TEM00 laser
beam delivers a brightness that is multiple orders of magnitude higher than any lamp or LED.

For laser-projection displays, this translates into increased image brightness and/or resolution.
Projection displays rely on a linear or two-dimensional micromirror MEMs chip. To maintain image
brightness as chip size decreases, the light source must be focused to a smaller spot. For any nonpoint
source, reducing the focused spot size increases the cone angle (f number) of the light beam. However,
both the micromirror and projection optics have limited acceptance angles, so, at some point, the
system will start to throw light away, which eventually decreases image brightness.

As a point of reference, current state-of-the-art LED-based projection television is limited to a maximum

50 in. diagonal. And, even this size requires the use of a high-gain screen containing a lens array to trade
off viewing angle for brightness. A laser source avoids this problem and brightness can be scaled without
limit because increasing laser power doesn’t increase the source size.

Spanned lifetime
The lifetime of the light sources, such as UHP lamps, HID lamps, xenon lamps, and other types of lamps,
are only several hundreds or several thousands hours, and the lamps easily explode due to their high
operation temperature. In comparison to these light sources, laser has longer lifetime. Therefore,
spanned lifetime of laser based display will be more than others.

Several issues regarding laser projection displays

Laser Safety
Laser radiation falls in the category of nonionizing radiation, unlike x rays and gamma rays. Although
there are other risks, such as chemical, electrical, and other secondary hazards associated with a laser
unit, the mostly discussed risks are eye and skin hazards caused by laser radiation. A laser with sufficient
optical power can cause corneal and retinal burns or cataracts, depending on the level of exposure. In
laser based displays, only wavelengths in the range from 400 to 700nm are used. But there may be
spurious emission of infrared or ultraviolet if the technology used for the generation of the primaries
utilize nonlinear optical processes, such as second harmonic generation or sum/difference frequency
generation. However, these can be effectively removed with appropriate filters.

In order to evaluate the hazard potential of a laser-based display system, one has to determine the
maximum possible exposure under a worst-case scenario. If the evaluated exposures are below the
maximum permissible exposure (MPE) for laser radiation laid out by the above-mentioned standards,
the display may be considered eye safe.
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Speckle in Laser Displays

Although a laser-based display can offer a wide color gamut compared with other display technologies,
it also comes with a problem specific to laser light, the speckle patterns, which results from the
coherence of laser light. When an object is illuminated with a coherent light source, such as a laser, the
scattered light has components with different delays, which are caused by the roughness of the
illuminated surface. As the scattered light propagates further, these coherent but de-phased
components interfere and produce a granular intensity pattern called speckle on the screen. speckle
formation is an undesired effect in laser-based display systems, as it destroys the information content
and reduces the resolution.

In order to reduce speckle, many different methods have been suggested. In order to generate
uncorrelated speckle patterns in the spatial dimension, incident angle, wavelength, or polarization of
the light source can be altered. Uncorrelated patterns in the temporal dimension can be created by
placing and moving a scattering surface into the light path. The moving scattering surface creates a time-
varying speckle pattern, and if the movement is fast enough, the speckle will be averaged out by the
human eye. Angular diversity for speckle reduction can be achieved with micro electro mechanical
systems (MEMS) scanning devices working at 2–10 kHz that generate different illumination angles. Using
a broadband source reduces the temporal coherence and, therefore, can effectively reduce speckle
without causing optical loss or design complexity. However, driving multiple laser diodes individually
with different wavelengths is a very complex and costly task and is not useful for a laser-based television
or projector system. In order to overcome this problem, a new laser diode array structure that exhibits
self-induced spectrum widening has been suggested.

If the observer is close to the screen in a projection system, the perceived diameter of the speckle is
typically small, and speckle can be reduced by reducing the temporal or the spatial coherence of the
laser. In the far field, on the other hand, the average size of the speckles appears larger to the observers
eyes; therefore, small phase changes are not sufficient to eliminate the speckle in the far field. In order
to remove speckle in the far field, boiling speckle patterns can be produced by using a diffractive optical
element (DOE). A DOE is used to modulate the spatial phase and the amplitude of the unfocused
scanning laser beam across its diameter. Another method for creating a time-varying speckle pattern is
using a dynamic polymer-based diffraction grating. In this approach, diffracted light coming from the
grating is used as the illumination source after collection and homogenization.

Although the stated speckle reduction techniques reduce the speckle contrast in considerable amounts,
they do not completely remove the speckle noise and hot spot speckles remain. The remaining hot spot
speckles can be removed by implementing both a rotating diffuser and a running screen.
 18

Conclusion

Currently, the market for laser-based projection displays-that is, rear-projection televisions (RPTVs),
front-projection systems, and pocket projectors-is caught between a technology that offers superior
image quality and a price tag that makes it a hard sell. However, while lasers clearly offer improved
imaging characteristics over other display technologies, the final hurdle to their adoption is cost.
Therefore it is expected the laser technology to penetrate the higher-value applications first, where the
cost can be more readily justified. These applications include digital cinema projectors and specialty
displays such as flight and ship simulators, followed by large-format televisions. Flight simulators, in
particular, are a near-perfect fit for lasers because lasers address one of the biggest limitations of
current CRT-based systems, namely contrast, which has long limited the realism of the images and
hence the entire simulated-motion experience. Then, as production volumes increase and costs
correspondingly drop, laser displays will be ready to penetrate the consumer market.
 19

References
[1] "Optoelectronic Applications: Projection Displays: Laser-based projectors target consumer market",
Dec 1, 2005. Accessed from: http://www.optoiq.com.

[2] Kishore V. Chellappan, Erdem Erden, and Hakan Urey, "Laser-based displays: a review," Appl. Opt. 49,
F79-F98 (2010)

[3] Guang Zheng Wang, B. Fang, T. Cheng, H. Qi, Y. Wang, Y.W. Yan, B.X. Bi, Y. Wang, Y. Chu, S.W.
Wu, T.J. Xu, J.K. Min, H.T. Yan, S.P. Ye, C.W. Jia, Z.D., Laser Digital Cinema Projector, Journal of Display
Technology, Vol 4, pp 314 - 318, Sept. 2008.

[4] Kranert, J. Deter, C. Gessner, T. Dotzel, W., Schneider Rundfunkwerke AG, Turkheim, Laser display
technology, Proc. of the Eleventh Annual International Workshop on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems,
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