Elliptical diffuser

A diffuser screen made by the steps of:

• providing a sheet of acrylic plastic having acrylic diffusing microspheres of at least seven microns in diameter embedded therein and uniformly dispersed through said sheet, wherein said sheet of acrylic plastic's thickness and a concentration of the acrylic diffusing microspheres has an approximately linear relationship, and
• stretching said sheet in a first direction to increase distances between adjacent microspheres in said one direction without substantially changing distances between said microspheres in a second direction transverse to said first direction, and to elongate said microspheres in said first direction.

A diffuser comprising:

• a sheet of stretched transparent material,
• a plurality of elliptically deformed microspheres embedded in said sheet, said microspheres being elongated in a first direction and spaced from one another by relatively larger distances in said first direction and by relatively smaller distances in a second direction, said sheet of transparent material comprising first and second sections having adjoining edges that are cut at an angle and bonded to one another to maintain precision of effective thickness of the joined sections for maintaining optical performance of diffusion at the adjoining edges.

A diffuser comprising:

• a transparent polymeric light diffuser substrate that is stretched in a first one of first and second mutually orthogonal directions and not narrowed in said second direction,
• a plurality of acrylic diffuser particles of consistent, uniformly spherical configuration and size embedded in said substrate, wherein said substrate's thickness and a concentration of said diffuser particles has an approximately linear relationship, said diffuser particles comprising a plurality of elliptically deformed microspheres of at least seven microns in diameter that are elongated in said first direction, said elliptically deformed microspheres being spaced from one another in said first direction by distances that are substantially greater than the distances between particles in said second direction.

A diffuser comprising:

• a transparent substrate that is stretched in a first one of first and second mutually orthogonal directions and not narrowed in said second direction wherein said transparent substrate comprises first and second stretched sheets, each stretched in said first direction and each having adjacent slanted edges, said slanted edges being bonded to each other with the slanted edges abutted against each other to form a diagonal point having an effective thickness that maintains optical performance of diffusion over said joint;
• and
• a plurality of diffuser particles embedded in said substrate, said particles comprising a plurality of elliptically deformed microspheres that are elongated in said first direction, said elliptically deformed microspheres being spaced from one another in said first direction by distances that are substantially greater than the distances between particles in said second direction.

A diffuser comprising;

• a transparent substrate that is stretched in a first one of first and second mutually orthogonal directions and not narrowed in said second direction, wherein said transparent substrate comprises first and second stretched sheets, each stretched in said first direction and each having adjacent slanted edges, said slanted edges being bonded to each other with the slanted edges abutted against each other to form a diagonal point having an effective thickness that maintains optical performance of diffusion over said joint, wherein each of said slanted edges includes first and second slanted portions interconnected by a rebated portion, said slanted and rebated portions of the edges of said first and second sheets being mutually overlapped and bonded together;
• and
• a plurality of diffuser particles embedded in said substrate, said particles comprising a plurality of elliptically deformed microspheres that are elongated in said first direction, said elliptically deformed microspheres being spaced from one another in said first direction by distances that are substantially greater than the distances between particles in said second direction.

A rear projection screen, comprising:

• a liquid crystal display panel having front and rear surfaces;
• at least one layer of transparent acrylic substrate having first and second mutually angulated axes defining first and second directions, and a plurality of acrylic diffuser particles carried by said substrate, wherein said substrate's thickness and a concentration of said diffuser particles has an approximately linear relationship, said particles being elongated in said second direction, said substrate further comprising a sheet of transparent polymeric light diffuser material having seven micron microspheres embedded therein, said sheet being stretched in a second direction, said microspheres being elliptically deformed and elongated in said second direction mounted upon the rear surface of the liquid crystal display panel;
• said substrate having the concentration of between 20 and 30 percent of said diffuser particles to a material thickness of approximately one half after stretching.