Spatio-Temporal Directional Light Modulator

A directional light modulator comprising:

• an emissive micro emitter array device comprising a multiplicity of pixels;
• a micro lens array aligned and physically bonded to the emissive micro emitter array device;
• and,
• a two axis gimbal having a bonding pad upon which the emissive micro emitter array device and the micro lens array assembly is physically and electrically bonded;
• the two axis gimbal having two sets of electromagnetic actuators aligned with the two axes of the gimbal to affect temporal angular articulation of said bonding pad around the two axes of the gimbal, and
• a set of electrical contacts connecting said bonding pad to a set of device interface contacts.

A method of forming a directional light modulator comprising:

• providing an emissive micro emitter array device;
• providing a micro lens array of micro lens elements;
• aligning the micro lens array with the emissive micro emitter array device into a direction light modulator subassembly so that each micro lens element of the micro lens array is associated and aligned with a corresponding plurality of micro emitters within a two dimensional array of micro emitters of the emissive micro emitter array device to emit light around two axes within the plane of an emissive surface of the emissive micro emitter array within a range of plus or minus a maximum angular extent, whereby each micro lens element optically maps light emitted from the corresponding plurality of micro emitters into a corresponding discrete set of directions within an angular extent defined by a numerical aperture of each micro lens element;
• temporally articulating the directional light modulator subassembly about at least a first axis in a plane of the assembly to expand the discrete set of directions responsive to the angular articulation.