Invited Paper: UHP‐lamp systems for projection applications

Abstract— Projection systems have found widespread use in conference rooms and other professional applications during the last decade and are now entering the home‐TV market with considerable pace. Projectors as small as about one liter are nowadays able to deliver a screen flux of several thousand lumens and are, with a system efficacy of more than 10 lm/W, the most‐efficient display system realized today. Because such highly efficient projectors employ microdisplays as light valves, short‐arc lamps are a key component in realizing these properties. The introduction of the UHP‐lamp system by Philips in 1995 can be identified as one of the key enablers for the commercial success of projection systems. The ultra‐high‐performance (UHP) lamp concept features outstanding arc luminance, a well‐suited spectrum, long life, and excellent flux maintenance. For the first time, it combines a very‐high‐pressure mercury‐discharge lamp having an extremely short and stable arc length with a regenerative chemical cycle that keeps the discharge walls free from blackening, leading to lifetimes of over 10,000 hours. In this review, the most important aspects of the UHP concept that enabled its success in the projection market are described, followed by a discussion of some recent additions to the UHP‐product portfolio.     

Color‐tuning projection system for adaptive combination of high brightness and wide color gamut

Abstract— The demand for projectors with high brightness and wide color gamut has been increasing; however, UHP lamp projectors cannot deliver those two qualities efficiently and simultaneously because of its color‐separation system. The newly developed projection system — “Color‐Tuning Projection System” — realizes the adaptive combination of high brightness and wide color gamut with one projector. This projector features a fourth liquid‐crystal panel — “Color Tuner” — with a 3LCD optical engine, which controls yellow light separately from the RGB light of a UHP lamp. This color‐tuner‐based optical engine — “Color‐Tuning Optical Engine” — and a new color‐conversion signal‐processing algorithm — “Adaptive Color Conversion Algorithm” — controls the yellow‐light volume and corrects color‐shifted pixels according to the brightness and chromaticity analysis of the input image, key technologies of the Color‐Tuning Projection System. This additional panel system enables the projector to ach ieve up to 115% higher brightness and 120% wider color gamut according to the input image. This paper presents an innovative design concept, a novel technology regarding brightness and a color‐gamut conversion projection system, and the characteristics of the prototype.     

High‐efficiency light‐collection optics for lamp‐based projection TV

Abstract— A new light‐collection optics has been developed that enhances the luminance of projection TV which use lamps as the light source. The conventional optical system consists of an elliptical reflector and a flat‐surface front glass, but these systems cannot sufficiently collect the beams coming from the light source, and they cause loss in the coupling with the light pipe. To solve this problem, we devised a new optical system through a structure of an aspherical reflector and an aspherical front glass. This new optical system concentrates the beams coming from the light source to a smaller point which improves the coupling efficiency. Thus, we have successfully increased the luminance of the projection TV by approximately 10%. This paper reports the design principles of the new optical system and the results of a prototype experiment.     

Technology trends of high‐pressure mercury short‐arc lamps for projection systems

Abstract— We will discuss the advantages and limitations of ac and dc lamp technology for microdisplay‐based projection systems. The performance of the lamp in terms of brilliance and thermal robustness together with the potential lamp lifetime for ac and dc lamps will be discussed. ac and dc lamp designs will be evaluated to judge their potential for future improvements in terms of usable projector lumens.     

Development and application of less‐mercury flat fluorescent lamps for backlights and general lighting

Abstract— A novel flat discharge fluorescent lamp used as the light source of backlight modules for LCDs and general lighting systems has been researched and developed. This new type of lamp is a less‐mercury flat fluorescent lamp with two‐dimensional emission and superior to conventional one‐dimensional cold‐cathode fluorescent lamps in terms of optics, energy‐savings, production efficiency, reliability, and chromatic performances. Physical characterization of the optics, temperature, mechanical design, thermal shocking, reliability, and corresponding environments have verified that flat fluorescent lamps will be the next‐generation light sources for backlight modules and general lighting systems.     

OLED‐based pico‐projection system

Abstract— Two pico‐projection systems, a monochrome green and a full‐color system, based on high‐efficiency OLED microdisplays (VGA; pixel size, 12 μm) are presented. Both optical systems are described by a numerical aperture of about 0.3, a magnification of 15x, and a working distance of 300–360 mm. The frequency limit of both systems is 42 cycles/mm at an image contrast of about 60%. The monochrome projection system with a volume smaller than 10 cm³ consists of one green OLED and a projection lens with five elements. The measured luminance in the image plane is about 0.061 lm. The image has a diagonal of 150 mm with a working distance of about 300 mm and has a considerable image contrast of 396:1. The second system combines three high‐brightness OLEDs, red, green, and blue colored, together with a projection lens and an image‐combining element, and an X‐Cube to achieve full‐color projection. The estimated luminance value for the three‐panel projection unit with an OLED luminance of 10,000 cd/m² for each display will be about Φcalculated = 0.147 lm. In this paper, the system concepts, the optical designs, and the realized prototypes of the monochrome and full‐color projection system are presented.     

Geometrical considerations on the directivity of reflected light from a paraboloidal mirror

A divergence angle of the light emanated from an optical source composed of a source of light with finite size and a paraboloidal reflector is analyzed on the basis of geometrical considerations. The divergence angle distributions of the reflected light rays from each reflection point on the paraboloidal mirror are numerically calculated as parameters of the shapes of a lamp arc body and a paraboloidal reflector. It has been found from the analyses that the divergence angle can be reduced by prolongation of the optical path length PO to the reflection point P on the paraboloidal mirror from the focal point O of it, at which the center of the extent of the arc is located. A new approach different from conventional one to reduce the divergence angle of the light rays emanated from the optical source is proposed. The new configurations of the optical source composed of a source of light with finite size and a paraboloidal reflector or a spheroidal converging reflector are shown and discussed.     

Étendue‐density homogenization lamps with light concentration function

Abstract— In order to increase the screen brightness of Digital Micromirror Device? projectors (DMD? projectors), we designed a new compact lamp. In our previous work, we discussed a lamp that has an aspherical lamp reflector and an aspherical front glass, which we called EHLa. Although EHLas improve the light convergence at the entrance of rod integrators, they require external lenses for light condensation. We, therefore, discuss a new EHLa that can converge light without the need for external lenses. The new lamp corresponds to conventional elliptic reflector‐type lamps, which are widely used for mobile‐type DMD? projectors. Our simulations demonstrated that the ratio of increased brightness is 17.1% for the new lamp design versus conventional lamps in a 0.7‐in.‐diagonal DDR DMD? panel.     

Microdisplay‐based industrial 3‐D and microstructure measurement systems

Abstract— Microdisplays, whether they are of the liquid‐crystal‐on‐silicon (LCOS) or organic light‐emitting diode (OLED) type, have been, up until now, mainly used in multimedia applications or head‐mounted displays. Due to their interesting possibilities, these displays open more and more alternative applications; for example, in optical metrology. Projection lenses for this application area need to be specially designed because the requirements on these systems differ completely from those for multimedia applications. The lenses must have very low geometrical image distortion and they have to be adapted to small objects and/or image distances. On the other hand, they often work with light sources with small spectral bandwidths; consequently, they do not need to be corrected for chromatic aberrations. In addition, the numerical aperture has to be large enough to collect and transfer as much light as possible, but also the size of the projection lens has to be as small as possible to ensure compact measurement systems. All these requirements lead to a compromise in optical lens design. Three optical system designs and realizations — one with an OLED microdisplay and two with an LCOS microdisplay — are presented.     

UHP lamps for projection

UHP lamps are now standard equipment in highly efficient projection systems. These systems are moving toward smaller displays, brighter screens, and ultra‐compactness. Consequently, a range of UHP lamps has been developed to fulfil these ever‐increasing demands. This paper describes the basic principles of UHP lamps and reviews the major achievements made over the last several years, which include reduction in arc size, arc stabilization, and ignition voltage reduction.     

Mercury‐free 18‐in. flat fluorescent lamp with good uniformity

We have developed an 18‐in. 287 × 359‐mm flat fluorescent lamp (FFL) that uses a xenon dielectric barrier discharge and analyzed its electro‐optical characteristics. The surface luminance of the lamp having a diffuser sheet thickness of 3 mm was 5600 cd/m² and the luminance uniformity was 92% at an applied voltage of 950 Vrms. The luminous efficacy of the FFL was 24.5 lm/W for a luminance of 4200 cd/m² when driven by a sine‐wave voltage.     

基于单投影仪与柱面反射镜的沉浸感显示系统

在分析传统沉浸感显示系统优缺点的基础上,设计并实现了一种新型的沉浸感显示系统。该系统使用柱面反射镜对单投影仪投射光线进行反射,并在弧形背投幕上成像,能够获得无缝画面,实现了广角度虚拟场景的连贯显示。通过合理设计柱面反射镜形状,实现了投影画面在水平方向上的均匀放大。通过对图像进行预变形可以基本消除因投影幕曲率而产生的投影画面形变,同时采用背投技术使参与者在虚拟场景中活动更加自如。该系统克服了传统的多投影仪或多显示器沉浸感显示系统中存在的图像拼接问题,且易于构建,经实验验证能够获得良好的沉浸感显示效果。     

Solid‐state lasers for projection

Abstract— The unique advantage of projection displays is the ability to produce large images from small devices. The use of lasers as the projection light source will mean a further step in terms of compactness as well as efficiency for projection systems. However, the advent of laser projection is currently still limited by the availability of low‐cost green lasers. Blue‐diode‐pumped solid‐state lasers are one promising way to realize green as well as red lasers that are specifically suited for projection applications. An efficient solid‐state laser that is based on Pr³⁺:YLF as the laser material, pumped by a blue‐laser diode and emitting at 523 nm, is presented here. The laser reaches power‐conversion efficiencies of more than 7% and output powers of up to 378 mW at green wavelengths. By making only minor modifications to the laser resonator, a red laser emitting at 640 nm can be realized within the same setup. An output power of 166 mW at a power‐conversion efficiency of 6.9% is demonstrated in the red. By combining a red‐ and a green‐emitting blue‐diode‐pumped solid‐state laser with another blue diode, an integrated RGB projection light source can be realized that is based on a single‐diode technology.     

Mercury‐free 18‐in. flat fluorescent lamp with good uniformity

Abstract— We have developed an 18‐in. 287 × 359‐mm mercury‐free flat fluorescent lamp (FFL) having a new structure that utilizes dielectric barrier discharge and contains pure xenon gas. The electro‐optical characteristics have been analyzed. The surface luminance of the lamp having a diffuser sheet is 5600 cd/m² and the luminance uniformity is 92% at an applied voltage of 1050 Vrms and an applied frequency of 20 kHz in the form of a sine wave.     

A high‐contrast front‐projection display system optimizing the projected light‐angle range

Abstract— The problem with front‐projection displays is that the screen contrast ratio decreases under bright‐ambient conditions. To overcome this problem, the design of a special screen, composed of the diffuser whose diffusing property shows top‐hat characteristics and a sawtooth reflector, is proposed. The screen diffuses the incident image light arriving at a projection‐angle range that is a lower‐angle range than the viewing‐angle range, and reflects the ambient light out of the viewing‐angle range. In this paper, the projection‐angle range and the viewing‐angle range was optimized to improve the contrast ratio of a front‐projection display. As a result, a special screen with the above‐mentioned diffusing property was realized, and a high‐quality front‐projection display with a high contrast ratio, even in a bright room, was achieved.     

Development of a dual‐lamp projector with higher brightness

Stationary projectors mainly used in system applications have recently gained a wider application range, including general presentations in halls and large conference rooms and being used, for example, in digital signage and for monitoring purposes. Consequently, they are required to meet new market demands for durability, reliability, and flexibility in installation in addition to their conventional basic performance such as especially high brightness. To achieve especially high brightness, a new optical system with two lamps is proposed; the profile of the cover glass that prevents the glass from scattering is made aspherical, the profile of the beam‐combining mirror is improved with its position optimized, and the size of the incident plane of the integrator rod is made larger (1.1 times). These measures resulted in an optical system of an even higher efficiency with 7000 lm, which is the highest in its class (according to a June 2010 investigation). Also, the arrangement of two parallel lamps completely eliminated the effect of heat passing from one lamp to the other, which helped secure durability, reliability, and flexibility in installation. Furthermore, the combined use of the unique non‐telecentric optical system, adopted from the conventional single‐lamp model, helps maintain the class‐highest contrast ratio.^1,2     

Spatial optical modulator (SOM): Samsung's light modulator for next‐generation laser displays

Abstract— A new type of diffractive spatial optical modulators (SOMs) has been developed for projection‐display and other applications such as holographic data storage, programmable lithography, and optical communications. It exhibits the inherent advantages of fast response time and high‐performance light modulation, suitable for high‐quality and high‐resolution projection displays. The ±1st‐order efficiency and contrast ratio of 39% and 1000:1 was achieved for a prototype SOM. The response time can be as fast as 0.7μsec with a 400‐nm displacement, enough to make a full‐HD display, being driven by 10‐V. A laser display in full‐HD format (1920 × 1080) was successfully demonstrated by using prototype projection engines having SOM devices, signal‐processing circuits, and projection optics.     

High‐pixel‐rate grating‐light‐valve laser projector

Abstract— A high‐pixel‐rate, high‐contrast (30,000:1) wide‐color‐gamut grating‐light‐valve laser projector is reported. A new optical engine enabling high‐frame‐rate (240 Hz) scan projection is employed. Panoramic wide‐angle‐scan projection with a 64:9 aspect ratio was also developed. Speckle noise is eliminated using a simple but highly efficient technique. The optical throughput efficiency of the grating‐light‐valve laser projector is reviewed.     

Front‐projection optical‐system design for reflective LCoS technology

Abstract— Optical designs for three‐panel LCoS projection systems are reviewed. The impact of polarization aberrations in prism‐based systems is discussed and a simple model to analyze the sensitivity of contrast to thermal gradients in prisms is presented. To eliminate stress birefringence in LCoS projection systems, we have developed a projection optical system that does not require the use of polarizing prisms. An improved off‐axis design has been designed that simplifies manufacture and reduces cost. The performance of systems based on this architecture will be discussed.     

Étendue‐density homogenization lens optimized for high‐pressure mercury lamps

Abstract— In order to increase the screen brightness of Digital Micromirror Device? projectors (DMD?), we have developed a new aspherical lens. Homogenizing the étendue‐density distribution made by a high‐pressure mercury lamp, this lens improves the light convergence at its focal point where the rod integrator's entrance is placed. Our simulation showed that the percentage of increase in brightness is up to 18.4%.