Dual-modulation laser projection systems and methods

A dual-modulation laser projection system, comprising:

• a polarizing beamsplitter for splitting laser light into first and second polarized beams having mutually orthogonal polarizations;
• a phase spatial light modulator (SLM) for beam steering the second polarized beam;
• a mechanical amplitude SLM for amplitude modulating a combination of (i) the first polarized beam and (ii) the second polarized beam as beam steered by the phase SLM;
• and
• a filter for removing, from an amplitude modulated combination of the first and second polarized beams, one or more of a plurality of diffraction orders introduced by the mechanical amplitude SLM, to generate filtered, modulated output light.

A dual-modulation laser projection method, comprising:

• splitting laser light into first and second polarized beams having mutually orthogonal polarizations;
• phase modulating the second polarized beam in a spatially non-uniform manner to beam steer the second polarized beam;
• and
• after the step of modulating the second polarized beam:
• combining the first and second polarized beams into combined light,
• mechanically amplitude modulating the combined light in a spatially non-uniform manner, and
• removing, from the amplitude modulated combined light, one or more of a plurality of diffraction orders introduced in the step of mechanically amplitude modulating the combined light, so as to generate filtered modulated output light.