Optical switching apparatus

A directional display apparatus, comprising:

• a spatial light modulator comprising an array of pixels;
• an array of birefringent microlenses aligned with the array of pixels;
• a switchable polariser being switchable between a first polarisation mode that passes light of a first polarisation component and a second polarisation mode that passes light of a second polarisation component;
• the birefringent microlenses being of a birefringence such that in operation the birefringent microlenses direct light of the first polarisation component substantially into a first directional distribution and light of the second polarisation component substantially into a second directional distribution different from the first directional distribution;
• the array of pixels, the array of birefringent microlenses and the switchable polariser being positioned in series and arranged such that, in operation, light output from the spatial light modulator is directed by the birefringent microlenses and selectively passed by the switchable polariser to provide directionally modulated output light from the directional display apparatus, the directionally modulated output light being output with a first directional distribution when the switchable polariser is set to the first polarisation mode and with a second directional distribution, different to the first directional distribution, when the switchable polariser is set to the second polarisation mode.

A direct view reflective optical display apparatus, comprising:

• an array of lenses capable of forming an array of images of an external light source in an image plane;
• reflector means provided substantially in said image plane to reflect said array of images, the reflector means and the array of lenses being arranged such that said array of images are reflected by said reflector means through the array of lenses to direct the light of each image into substantially the same directional distribution;
• and
• an image display apparatus having an array of pixels arranged to modulate the light of the reflected images,
• wherein the reflector means is a light-deflecting reflector such that each respective finite portion of the image is reflected through a lens aperture different from the lens aperture to which the lens aperture forming the respective finite portion of the image would be imaged by a planar reflector extending along the image plane.