Continuously viewable, DC field-balanced, reflective, ferroelectric liquid crystal image generator

A display system for acting on light entering the system, the display system comprising:

• a) a reflective ferroelectric liquid crystal spatial light modulator including a layer of ferroelectric liquid crystal light modulating medium, at least a portion of the ferroelectric liquid crystal light modulating medium of the spatial light modulator defining at least one individually controllable pixel switchable between a first pixel state and a second pixel state;
• b) an optics arrangement including a polarizer for polarizing the light entering the system along a first optical path directed toward the spatial light modulator, the reflective spatial light modulator acting on the polarized light to produce an optical output that is directed along a second optical path from the spatial light modulator, back into the optics arrangement, and out of the system, the optics arrangement including an analyzer configured to receive and analyze the optical output of the spatial light modulator along the second optical path;
• and
• c) a compensator for acting on light within the display system, the compensator including a layer of ferroelectric liquid crystal light modulating medium switchable between a first compensator state and a second compensator state, the layer of ferroelectric liquid crystal light modulating medium of the compensator and the layer of ferroelectric liquid crystal light modulating medium of the spatial light modulator having single pass retardances that are substantially different from one another.

A display system for acting on light entering the system, the display system comprising:

• a) a reflective ferroelectric liquid crystal spatial light modulator including a layer of ferroelectric liquid crystal light modulating medium, at least a portion of the ferroelectric liquid crystal light modulating medium of the spatial light modulator defining at lest one individually controllable pixel switchable between a first pixel state and a second pixel state;
• b) an optics arrangement including a polarizer for polarizing the light entering the system along a first optical path directed toward the spatial light modulator, the reflective spatial light modulator acting on the polarized light to produce an optical output that is directed along a second optical path from the spatial light modulator, back into the optics arrangement, and out of the system, the optics arrangement including an analyzer configured to receive and analyze the optical output of the spatial light modulator along the second optical path;
• and
• c) a compensator for acting on light within the display system, the compensator including a layer of ferroelectric liquid crystal light modulating medium switchable between a first compensator state and a second compensator state, the compensator and the spatial light modulator cooperating so as to cause the display system to operate such that
• i) during a first case when the compensator is in the first compensator state and one of the pixels of the spatial light modulator is in the first pixel state, the display output corresponding to that pixel is a first optical intensity,
• ii) during a second case when the compensator is in the first compensator state and one of the pixels of the spatial light modulator is in the second pixel state, the display output corresponding to that pixel is a second optical intensity,
• iii) during a third case when the compensator is in the second compensator state and one of the pixels of the spatial light modulator is in the first pixel state, the display output corresponding to that pixel is a third optical intensity, and
• iv) during a fourth case when the compensator is in the second compensator state and one of the pixels of the spatial light modulator is in the second pixel state, the display output corresponding to that pixel is a fourth optical intensity,
• the optical intensities for each of the four cases being such that the optical intensity of the display output for a given pixel during a given case is substantially uniform over substantially the entire visible light spectrum.

A display system for acting on light entering the system, the display system comprising:

• a) a reflective spatial light modulator for acting on light within the display system, the spatial light modulator including a layer of ferroelectric liquid crystal light modulating medium switchable between a first state and a second state;
• and
• b) a compensator for acting on light within the display system, the compensator including a layer of ferroelectric liquid crystal light modulating medium switchable between a first compensator state and a second compensator state such that,
• when the light modulating medium of the compensator is switched to the first compensator state, the display system allows light to pass through the system when the light modulating medium of the spatial light modulator is switched to the first state and the display system prevents substantially all of the light entering the system from passing through the system when the light modulating medium of the spatial light modulator is in the second state, and
• when the light modulating medium of the compensator is switched to the second compensator state, the display system allows light to pass through the system when the light modulating medium of the spatial light modulator is switched to the second state and the display system prevents substantially all of the light entering the system from passing through the system when the light modulating medium of the spatial light modulator is in the first state.