Display apparatus, method and light source
AssigneeExalos AG
InventorsValerio Laino, Lorenzo Occhi, Christian Velez
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Abstract
In accordance with the invention, a display apparatus comprising a light source is provided, said light source comprising at least one superluminescent light emitting diode (SLED), the apparatus further comprising at least one light modulating device arranged in a beam path of a light beam emitted by said light source and operable to emit influenced light upon incidence of said light beam, the light modulating device being operatively connected to an electronic control, the display apparatus further comprising a projection optics arranged in a beam path of said influenced light.
Claims20
A display apparatus for projecting an image onto a projection object, the display apparatus comprising:
- a light source,
- said light source comprising at least one superluminescent light emitting diode,
- the display apparatus further comprising at least one light modulating device arranged in a beam path of a light beam emitted by said light source and operable to emit influenced light upon incidence of said light beam, the light modulating device being operatively connected to an electronic control,
- the display apparatus further comprising a projection optics arranged in a beam path of said influenced light
- wherein the superluminescent light emitting diode or at least one of the superluminescent light emitting diodes is a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) operated to amplify spontaneously emitted light.
A method of displaying an image, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a semiconductor heterostructure with a waveguide;
- causing the semiconductor heterostructure to emit visible light and to amplify said visible light by stimulated emission, thereby creating a primary light beam in the waveguide;
- causing the light beam to be radiated away from the semiconductor heterostructure without any substantial light beam portions being fed back to the semiconductor heterostructure;
- modulating the light beam to yield a pre-image;
- and
- imaging the pre-image onto a full area of the image
- wherein the semiconductor heterostructure with the waveguide comprises one first, reflective end facet reflecting light portions propagating in the heterostructure towards the reflective end facet to be reflected back into the waveguide and comprises one second end facet with a design element preventing light from being reflected back into the wavequide, the step of causing the semiconductor heterostructure to amplify the visible light comprising amplifying light portions reflected back into the waveguide by the first end facet, and the step of causing the light beam to be radiated away from the semiconductor heterostructure comprising causing the light beam to exit the wavequide through the second end facet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.