Waveguide with diffractive optical element

A method for holographic projection, the method comprising

• spatially modulating light from a spatial light modulator;
• receiving a wavefront comprising a wavefront comprising modulated light from the spatial light modulator by a waveguide comprising a pair of complementary surfaces;
• waveguiding the wavefront in the waveguide between the pair of complementary surfaces;
• emitting a plurality of replicas of the wavefront from a first surface of the pair of complementary surfaces that is partially reflective-partially transmissive;
• receiving the plurality of replicas of the wavefront from the first surface of the waveguide by a diffractive optical element;
• principally redirecting with the diffractive optical element each replica into a respective non-zero diffractive order defined by a non-zero diffraction angle to provide a plurality of diffracted replicas of the wavefront, while transmitting with the diffractive optical element a plurality of zeroth order replicas at a zeroth diffraction angle of the diffractive optical element;
• receiving the plurality of diffracted replicas and the plurality of zeroth-order replicas of the wavefront at an array of louvres;
• and
• transmitting through the array of louvres the plurality of diffracted replicas, while blocking by the array of louvres the plurality of zeroth order replicas.