Near-to-eye and see-through holographic displays

A method for generating a holographic image, comprising:

• providing one or more wavelengths of incident light to a holographic video display, wherein the incident light is pulsed, the display comprising a plurality of space-multiplexed elemental modulators, wherein each elemental modulator is configured to employ leaky-mode diffraction of guided-mode light to produce a line of a holographic display, each elemental modulator comprising:
• an anisotropic waveguide;
• at least one in-coupling reflection grating positioned on the anisotropic waveguide at a location selected for coupling the incident light into the waveguide to produce guided-mode light travelling in the waveguide;
• a plurality of surface acoustic wave transducers disposed along the top of the anisotropic waveguide, wherein each surface acoustic wave transducer is configured to diffract the guided-mode light travelling in the waveguide into leaky-mode light output that propagates away from the viewer, and wherein the plurality of surface acoustic wave transducers are positioned such that guided-mode light that is undiffracted by a first one of the plurality of transducers is available for diffraction by subsequent ones of the plurality of transducers, thereby producing a longer holographic line than would be possible with a single transducer;
• and
• at least one output volume reflection grating positioned on the anisotropic waveguide, each output volume reflection grating being positioned at a location selected for steering the leaky-mode light output towards a viewer;
• providing holographic information to the video display;
• coupling the light received at the holographic video display into the elemental modulators for diffraction according to the holographic information;
• and
• scanning the steered light to form the holographic image.