Vertical-cavity surface emitting laser assay display system

A visual display system for displaying an image having M.times.N picture elements within the field of view of an observer, said visual display system comprising:

• a plurality of visible emitting vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers aligned substantially in at least a first 1.times.N array, said lasers emitting radiation;
• means for creating an image of said plurality of visible emitting vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers;
• means for repetitively displacing the position of said image within the field of view of the observer;
• and
• means for selectively controlling the intensity of the radiation emitted from each of said plurality of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers as the position of said image is displaced to create the desired M.times.N image.

A visual display system for displaying an image having M.times.N picture elements within the field of view of an observer, said visual display system comprising:

• a plurality of visible emitting lasers aligned substantially in a K.times.L array, said lasers emitting radiation;
• means for creating an image of said plurality of visible emitting vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers;
• means for repetitively displacing the position of said image within the field of view of the observer;
• and
• means for selectively controlling the intensity of the radiation emitted from each of said plurality of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers as the position of said image is displaced to create the desired M.times.N image, where M and N are greater than K and L, respectively.

A visual display system for displaying a desired image within the field of view of an observer, said visual display system comprising:

• a laser array including a plurality of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers and light emitting diodes, said vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers and light emitting diodes emitting radiation in the visible electromagnetic spectrum;
• means for creating an optical image of said laser array;
• means for repetitively displacing the position of said optical image within the field of view of the observer;
• and
• means for selectively controlling the intensity of the radiation emitted from said laser array as the position of said optical image is displaced to create the desired image.

A visual display system for displaying a desired image having M.times.N picture elements within the field of view of an observer, said visual display system comprising:

• a plurality of surface-emitting lasers aligned substantially in K 1.times.L arrays, said 1.times.L arrays being arranged in groups of two or more lasers;
• a plurality of lenslet pairs having an optical axis substantially collinear with the direction of propagation of radiation emitted from said lasers, each lenslet pair for imaging lasers within a group to corresponding groups of reduced image size such that the inter-group spacing for the groups of reduced image size is greater than that for said groups of lasers;
• means for creating an image of said groups of reduced image size;
• means for repetitively displacing the position of said image within the field of view of the observer so as to generate sub-picture elements between the groups of reduced image size;
• and
• means for selectively controlling the intensity of the radiation emitted from each of said plurality of surface-emitting lasers as the position of said image is displaced to create the desired M.times.N image, where M and N are greater than K and L, respectively.

A visual display system for displaying a desired image having M.times.N picture elements within the field of view of an observer, said visual display system comprising:

• a plurality of surface-emitting lasers aligned substantially in a 1.times.L array, said 1.times.L array being arranged in groups of two or more lasers;
• a plurality of lenslet pairs having an optical axis substantially collinear with the direction of propagation of radiation emitted from said lasers, each lenslet pair for imaging lasers within a group to corresponding groups of reduced image size such that the inter-group spacing for the groups of reduced image size is greater than that for said groups of lasers;
• means for creating an image of said groups of reduced image size;
• means for repetitively displacing the position of said image within the field of view of the observer so as to generate sub-picture elements between the groups of reduced image size and picture elements along first and second directions, respectively, of said image;
• and
• means for selectively controlling the intensity of the radiation emitted from each of said plurality of surface-emitting lasers as the position of said image is displaced to create the desired M.times.N image, where M and N are greater than K and L, respectively.

A scanning configuration comprising:

• a plurality of surface-emitting lasers substantially aligned in at least a 1.times.N array along a first direction, said 1.times.N array having an inter-element spacing, d, and each of said lasers corresponding to a picture element;
• means for creating an image of said plurality of surface-emitting lasers;
• and
• means for repetitively displacing the image of said plurality of surface-emitting lasers by a distance less than the inter-element spacing, d, along said first direction so as to generate sub-picture elements between the images of adjacent lasers.